Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary is "very tempted" to order the Boeing 737 Max 10, but only when the "price is right", he tells FlightGlobal.
Discussions with Boeing over a potential order are under way "but we haven't reached an agreement on pricing yet", says O'Leary.
The Ryanair chief, who was speaking to FlightGlobal at the Future Travel Experience conference in Dublin on 26 June, added that the "obvious attraction" of the new variant – launched at this year's Paris air show – was its 30 extra seats.
But he stresses that Ryanair would only buy the variant at a price that allows it to continue reducing airfares.
O'Leary sees a risk that the Max 10 could add "complexity" to Ryanair's operations by requiring the budget carrier to take on extra crew members, and says the additional seats would mean a "big further yield dilution to what are already the lowest airfares in Europe".
He rules out converting any of Ryanair's existing orders for the Max 8, which represents "the ultimate sweet spot" for the carrier. "I get eight seats more per aircraft, 4% more revenue, without any more cabin crew and pilots," says O'Leary of the Max 8.
Ryanair ordered 10 additional Max 8s during the Paris air show. This, says O'Leary, was a result of Boeing bringing production of the type forward, "which is where they got the extra slots from".
Flight Fleets Analyzer shows that Ryanair has 110 Max 8s and 65 737-800s on order.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
