Budget operator Ryanair Group is planning for the arrival of its initial 15 Boeing 737 Max 10s in spring 2027, as it becomes increasingly confident of putting its fleet renewal back on track.
The airline states that Boeing expect the Max 10 to be certified late this year, and continues to “plan for the timely delivery” of the type – with 300 due to arrive by March 2034.
While Ryanair expanded its fleet of 737 Max 8-200s to 181 over the past fiscal year, it says this will “restrict” its growth for 2025-26 to 3%, a total of 206 million passengers.
“We are working closely with Boeing to accelerate deliveries,” it says.
But Ryanair adds that it is “increasingly confident” that the remaining 29 Max 8-200s from its order backlog will be delivered “well ahead” of the summer 2026 season.
This will enable it to “catch up delayed traffic growth” into the 2026-27 fiscal year, by the end of which it foresees an overall fleet of 655 aircraft.
Ryanair gave the outlook as it disclosed a 16% fall in full-year net profit, to €1.61 billion ($1.8 billion), for the 12 months ending 31 March 2025.
The company points out that “repeated” stimulation over the year was “necessitated” by consumer spending pressure and a “big drop” in online travel agency bookings before the summer. It was also affected by the earlier Easter holiday period in 2024.
Scheduled revenues across its five group airlines nevertheless rose 1% to €9.2 billion, and overall revenues were up 4% to just under €14 billion.
Operating expenditure increased by 9% to €12.4 billion. Ryanair says this rise was “in line with expectations”, with fuel hedging helping to offset higher costs partly arising from the delivery situation.
Ryanair is recording “robust” travel demand this summer across its network, with peak fares trending “modestly” ahead of the previous year. First-quarter fares, it adds, have benefited from the later Easter.
Although the company has “limited visibility”, it expects second-quarter pricing to recover partly from the decline recorded during the same period last year.
But it adds that the final outcome for the first half is “heavily dependent” on close-in bookings and peak summer yields.
Ryanair says it “cautiously” expects to recover “most, but not all” of last year’s 7% fall in fares, and that it will turn in “reasonable” net profit growth for 2025-26.
