Ryanair has placed orders and options for up to 140 Boeing 737-800s and has ordered 225 blended-winglet shipsets from Aviation Partners Boeing, the modification group's largest-ever single order.
The $2 billion order marks the start of a huge expansion for Michael O'Leary's low-cost carrier, which aims to double in size by 2010. The deal takes the airline's firm orders to 225, plus 193 options.
Ryanair will immediately begin retrofitting its 737-800 fleet - which will total 100 by year-end - with winglets. From January 2006, new aircraft deliveries from Boeing's Renton assembly line will come with factory-installed winglets.
n Flight tests of the first Boeing 757 equipped with the Aviation Partners Boeing blended winglet are set to begin around 5 March. The flight test and certification programme is expected to take around eight weeks with US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval due around June. Deliveries to Continental Airlines will begin shortly afterwards.
GUY NORRIS / LOS ANGELES
Source: Flight International
