Ryanair to make Max move amid crisis: Davy
Ryanair could seek to take advantage of the current “market softness” to make a Boeing 737 Max order announcement, analysts at Davy have suggested.
Speaking to Airfinance Journal, Davy analyst Stephen Furlong said he expects the low-cost carrier to confirm 75 Max options and reconfirm its existing 135 committed orders for a total of 210 orders.
“Basically a repricing of the existing deal and a new delivery schedule given delays,” he comments.
Furlong and Davy analyst Ross Harvey state in a research note their belief that “lowest cost wins” and believe the ultra-low-cost-carrier (ULCC) models are the “structural leaders”.
With the intra-European market contracting over the coming years, they expect Ryanair to grow into the “vacuum” this creates with lower airport costs, some staff savings and lower ownership, maintenance and rental costs.
Key to growth to 200 million passengers per annum over the next five or six years will be the 210 737 Max aircraft on order or allocated as options, with Ryanair having estimated that it will take delivery of 40 Max aircraft for service next summer.
Furlong and Harvey also note that Ryanair has reached agreement with most pilot and cabin crew unions.
They expect a “smaller, more concentrated” industry post-crisis with certain airlines such as Ryanair, and Wizz Air having gained market share.
Furlong and Harvey note that at the end of the SARS crisis, temperature screening was a “key factor” in returning the sector to normal.
“The industry needs to find the equivalent process to take us to when a Covid-19 vaccine is available – the goal we should have is an effective set of standard practices that can be implemented globally as required,” they add.