Peak summer air fares in Europe are likely to rise again this year by up to 10% due to a lack of available aircraft, Ryanair (RYA.IR) has warned.
Ticket prices could be up to 10% more expensive this summer at the low cost carrier, compared with the same period last year, after a delay in Boeing’s (BA) new aircraft deliveries, according to chief executive Michael O’Leary.
He said: “Fares in summer 2024 are going to be up again on summer 2023.“Our average air fares in summer 2023 rose 17%.
“We don’t think we’ll see that kind of double-digit fare increase this year. We’re doing our budgets based on a fare increase of 5-10%, which to me feels kind of reasonable.
Citing the uncertain climate, O’Leary added: “It could be higher than that, it could be lower than that, we really don’t know. “If capacity was growing, I think fares would be falling.”
Ryanair might also trim its summer schedules, which were built around the expected delivery of 50 of the 57 Boeing Max 737-8200s it has on order. The company now believes it will only get 40 to 45 planes in time for the summer season.
Major concerns have been raised about quality control for new Boeing aircraft, sparking a limit in production speed.
Airfares might go up across the board as all airlines across Europe will likely struggle to meet demand during the peak summer season if there aren’t enough planes to go around.
As well as the ongoing Boeing controversy, more than 1,000 Pratt & Whitney-built engines had to be removed from Airbus (AIR.PA) aircraft due to a safety recall last July.
O’Leary predicted that airlines such as Lufthansa, Air France and Wizz Air “will be grounding upwards of 20% of their A320 fleets” because of this.
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