‘We’re not first in the queue’: O’Leary lifts lid on Boeing 737 MAX 10 & 7 certification timeline
November 3, 2025
Ryanair is making plans to receive its first Boeing 737 MAX 10 by early 2027, but as CEO Michael O’Leary shared on the company’s earnings call today, “We’re not first in the queue.”
Adding detail on the certification timelines as he knows it, O’Leary continued, “They’re pretty confident that they’ll certify the MAX 7, even with the current government shutdown, in Q2 next year, and the MAX 10 in Q3, which will be about six months in advance of our first 15 MAX 10 deliveries in the spring of 2027.”
From Boeing’s side, the message has been that MAX 10 and 7 certification will happen ‘in 2026,’ a point that was reiterated by CEO Kelly Ortberg in its earnings call last week.
O’Leary added that Boeing has given Ryanair guarantees in writing that it will deliver its first 15 737 MAX 10s in the spring of 2027. “Clearly, that would make us one of the lead operators of the MAX 10, but I wouldn’t have any issue with that,” he added. “The sooner we can get them, the better.”
The Ryanair CEO added that it has benefited from taking queue spots from airlines that are pushing back deliveries. United Airlines, he said, had been the launch customer, but was now pushing deliveries back and talking about cancelling its order. “We offer to step in,” he said. “We take any MAX 10s they wanted to cancel.”
Although snagging cancelled jets has moved Ryanair up the production queue, it’s still not at the front.
“I understand there are about two airlines in front of us,” O’Leary said. “I think WestJet is one. Alaska might be another … The lead customer is likely to get the first MAX 10 deliveries in probably Q3 or Q4 of ’26.”
Ryanair’s soaring profits driven by improved Boeing deliveries
Reporting profits of over €2.5 billion for the first half of 2025, Ryanair praised Boeing for improved deliveries, noting a current fleet of 204 737 MAX 8-200 ‘gamechangers,’ with the entire 210-strong fleet set to be complete before summer next year.
Getting its aircraft faster presented short-term opportunities for Ryanair, letting it carry extra passengers in the first half. Now, it has slightly more aircraft on hand than expected, which has allowed it to selectively add capacity over the October mid-term school holidays and into Christmas and the New Year.
“Critical to us are the improvements Boeing have made in the deliveries, the quality of the deliveries,” O’Leary added. “Kelly Ortenberg and Stephanie Pope are doing a terrific job.”
As well as having more aircraft on hand, Ryanair benefited from a significant increase in average fares. Riding the wave of demand through the summer holidays, average fares rose to €58 ($67) in the first half, up 13% from last year. Passenger traffic grew to a record 119 million, while adding more 737 MAX 8-200s kept costs down, rising just 1% year on year.
“Currently, we’re making a profit of approximately 10 euros per passenger,” O’Leary said. “I think it’s reasonable to suppose that that profit will rise from 10 towards 12 or 14 euros over the next few years.”
Driving this assertion is Ryanair’s exemplary cost control, but also the forthcoming addition of the larger Boeing 737 MAX 10.
“We will be taking aircraft with 20% more seats that burn 20% less fuel per flight,” he explained. “We’re looking at more operating efficiencies coming through, and I think that justifies a reasonably modest profit per passenger from 10 to 12 to 14, I think, over the next five years.”
The Boeing 737 MAX 10 in Ryanair’s next growth phase
If Boeing meets its certification and delivery targets, the 737 MAX 10 will underpin Ryanair’s next decade of expansion. O’Leary told analysts the aircraft’s extra 30 seats and lower fuel burn per flight will push unit costs even lower, supporting the group’s ambition to carry more than 300 million passengers by 2034.
He described the jet as “a game-changer for both cost and environmental performance,” adding that the aircraft would strengthen Ryanair’s case for growth in markets where high airport charges and new taxes are squeezing competitors.
“Any aircraft that has 20% more seats and burns 20% less fuel will be an economically much more efficient and environmentally much more efficient aircraft to operate here in Europe,” O’Leary added. “I would take as many as I can get, as soon as I can get them, which is why we stepped in when United stupidly announced that they wouldn’t take theirs.”
