Ryanair likes big announcements. Once again, it shows him putting up big numbers for the year ahead. After a relatively difficult year 2024, the Irish low-cost airline indicates that it will invest 3 billion euros in 2025.
This sum will mainly be used to develop the fleet, with Ryanair announcing that it will receive up to 29 Boeing 737 MAXs. “While most European airlines remain capacity constrained, Ryanair is on track to receive 29 new Boeing 737s in 2025,” welcomes Jade Kirwan, communications director at Ryanair in a press release. This figure normally corresponds to the nominal delivery schedule planned by the company with the manufacturer Boeing, as presented during the company's half-year results last November (Ryanair operates on a staggered basis, from April 1 to March 31).
However, a question arises. During this same presentation, it was also indicated that a certain number of deliveries originally planned for 2024 would be postponed to 2025, due to the difficulties encountered by Boeing in meeting its commitments in terms of deliveries (quality problems, speed limitation, strike). With this shift, the company indicated that it hoped to receive up to 38 planes next year. However, Ryanair does not specify whether or not the count announced today takes this delay into account.
In any case, the company announces that this strengthening of its fleet will allow it to target 210 million passengers next year. And that this will be accompanied by the creation of 2,000 new jobs.
France put aside
This growth is not expected to be evenly distributed. In line with its strategy of maximizing profits, Ryanair announces point blank that the new aircraft “will be allocated to efficient, low-cost airports in EU countries where governments are driving growth in the aviation sector, such as Sweden, Italy, Spain and Poland”. The company's press release assures, conversely, “there will be no growth in countries raising taxes, such as the UK, France and Germany”.
At the end of November, the European low-cost giant did not hesitate to issue an ultimatum to the French government: it ordered it to withdraw its plan for a reinforced tax on plane tickets, otherwise it would suspend its flights at ten airports. French regional authorities and would reduce its activity in the regions by 50%. This tax increase is currently suspended due to the change of government, with the freezing of the 2025 finance bill. But Ryanair does not seem to have reversed its threat for the moment.
