DUBLIN (Reuters) – A strike vote at Boeing could hit the U.S. planemaker’s output and reduce the number of planes Ryanair will receive next summer from 25 to 20, the Irish Air Force’s chief executive, Michael O’Leary, told Newstalk radio on Saturday.
According to the latter, the low-cost airline group, one of Boeing’s largest customers, was originally supposed to receive 30 737 MAX aircraft before the summer of 2025, but Boeing’s operational problems prompted the planemaker to cut that figure to 25.
With Boeing workers on the US West Coast starting a strike on Friday, Michael O’Leary estimates that Ryanair could receive only 20 planes if the strike continues for three to four weeks.
Boeing has pledged to increase production by the end of the year after supply chain issues and a production slowdown following a Jan. 5 mid-flight crash involving a 737 MAX 9.
According to Michael O’Leary, it will likely take two to three years before Boeing gets back on track.
The planemaker and union representatives will resume negotiations early next week to try to end the strike.
(Reporting by Conor Humphries; writing by Catarina Demony; French translation by Claude Chendjou; editing by Kate Entringer)