Ryanair is in talks with Airbus in conjunction with Laudamotion to secure a line of aircraft, although not much progress has been made due to full orderbooks at Airbus. Laudamotion has made progress with some lessors in procuring aircraft that are returning from Asia for the summer 2019 schedule, however, leasing aircraft for Laudamotion is not the way forward, and Ryanair would like to place an order with Airbus. A mixed fleet is not being considered either.
Regarding its future fleet already secured, Ryanair expects its first five of 210 B737 MAX 200s to arrive in April 2019. They will likely be will placed somewhere in Continental Europe, in the German market or possibly in Austria or in Central Europe with subsidiary Ryanair Sun due to strong demand. Ryanair Sun is likely to be allocated more aircraft in winter 2018/19 or summer 2019, pending base allocation decisions.
For its Boeing orderbook, Ryanair sees opportunities to secure Boeing aircraft in winter 2018/19 if oil continues to rise and airlines go bust as a result. Beyond 2023 til 2017, Ryanair is mulling another order, with the MAX 10 under consideration.
Laudamotion and Norwegian
Ryanair plans to sit down Niki Lauda and his team in the 3Q 2018, with plans to finalize that investment or increase its investment in Laudamotion to 75%.
Laudamotion expects to breakeven in year three, following a €150 million loss this year and a €50 million the next year. The figures are based on having the Lufthansa aircraft in there over all three years.
Ryanair also says the potential fall or sale of Norwegian will significantly alter both its growth prospects in certain markets, the availability of pilots in other markets and may significantly affect the valuation of the lease rates on Airbus aircraft going forward.