Ryanair (FR, Dublin International) currently expects not more than ten B737-8-200s before the peak 2020 summer season due to a recently discovered design issue, Chief Operating Officer Neal McMahon wrote in a memorandum to pilots.
As reported separately by The Air Current and Aero.de, McMahon said the delay was related to an unspecified design issue with the second overwing exit. As a result, the Irish LCC now expects deliveries of the B737-8-200s to commence in May 2020 at the earliest, subject to the B737 MAX being ungrounded by all relevant authorities by that time.
The high-density B737-8-200 variant needs a separate type certificate. Boeing started the certification drive in January 2019 but had to halt it when the entire family was grounded in mid-March.
Ryanair initially planned to receive its first twenty-five B737-8-200s by the end of 2019 and another twenty-five during the first quarter of 2020. After the grounding of the B737 MAX, the Irish LCC revised the schedule and said it hoped to receive fifty-eight 8-200s by the peak summer season of 2020. As the grounding continued, Ryanair was gradually reducing its plan for Summer 2020 to thirty, twenty, and now just ten aircraft.
The airline has 135 B737-8-200s on firm order from Boeing and is one of only two airlines in the world to have ordered this type. VietJetAir (VJ, Hanoi Noi Bai International) has firm orders for 200 such aircraft.
According to the ch-aviation fleets module, Ryanair currently operates one B737-700 and 389 B737-800s in-house. Its subsidiaries Ryanair Sun/Buzz (Poland), Malta Air, and Ryanair UK operate a further sixty-one B737-800s.
