Ryanair CEO Has Some (Bleeped) Words for Boeing

Michael O'Leary is fed up with delays
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted May 17, 2022 12:35 AM CDT
Updated May 17, 2022 5:45 AM CDT
Ryanair CEO Goes on Anti-Boeing Rant
A Ryanair Boeing 737-8AS taxis past another aircraft on the apron at Frankfurt Airport in Frankfurt, Berlin, Friday, Jan. 7, 2022.   (Arne Dedert/dpa via AP)

It might be a bit of an understatement to say Ryanair is not happy about the delays it's experiencing with the planes it's ordered from Boeing. In what CNN describes as a "scathing," "expletive-ridden," "obscenity-laden" tirade Monday, the discount airline's CEO, Michael O'Leary, said that the aircraft maker either requires a "reboot, or a boot up the a--." The problem: Because airplanes expected from Boeing in April likely won't get to Ryanair until the end of June, the airline has had to run fewer than expected spring and summer flights, said O'Leary on a conference call with investors, per MarketWatch. He noted that the delay is especially confusing to him seeing as the planes in question are so-called "white tails," built by Boeing for another airline that ended up canceling the order.

"I can understand why there may be various challenges manufacturing new aircraft, but aircraft that you built and made two years ago that all you had ... to do was put petrol in them and f---ing fly them to Dublin, really I don't understand why you're taking two to three month delays on that," he told investors. "At the moment we think Boeing management is running around like headless chickens, not able to sell aircraft, and then even the aircraft they deliver, they're not able to deliver them on time." Last fall, in another public feud with Boeing, Ryanair ended negotiations on a potential order due to a pricing disagreement. That was to be for 737 Max planes, which were grounded for 20 months following two fatal crashes. Deliveries of two other types of Boeing plane have also been hit with delays and quality control issues.

"Either the existing management needs to up its game, or they need to change the existing management, would be our view of life," O'Leary said. "We're very happy to work with existing management but they need to bloody well improve on what they've been doing delivering to us over the last 12 months." He added, "You wonder what the hell their sales team has done in the last two years. Frankly most of them seem to sitting at home in their f---ing jimjams working from home instead of being out there selling planes to customers." Other airlines have complained about Boeing delays, with the CEO of an aircraft leasing company saying the company has "lost its way." Talking to CNBC, O'Leary said of that comment, "I find it hard to disagree with those sentiments." (O'Leary isn't the only CEO of late to pull out some pottymouth in a feud with another company.)

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