Ryanair’s CEO isn’t too concerned about who leads Boeing — as long as the beleaguered airplane maker’s problems get resolved. And fast.
Michael O’Leary, who has helmed the European low-cost airline for three decades, said in Poland that Boeing, first and foremost, needs to resolve the issues that have bottlenecked the expansion of Ryanair’s services, Reuters reports. That is, deliveries.
Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun announced Monday that he, along with a handful of other senior leadership, will step down from the company by the end of 2024. Among the C-suite changes was the appointment of Stephanie Pope as head of its commercial airplanes division — the point person for liaising with airlines like Ryanair.
When asked whether Pope should be on the shortlist to succeed Calhoun as CEO, O’Leary said Ryanair wants her in Seattle, where the company’s delivery center is located, to “get deliveries back on track.”
“Who runs Boeing in Washington and who deals with Congress, I don’t give a shite,” O’Leary told reporters, according to Reuters, describing the Chicago-based firm as “a big two-headed monster.”
Ryanair is Boeing’s largest customer in Europe and is investing $22 billion in 210 new Boeing 737s. Europe’s largest airline projects that over the next decade, it will receive another 300 new Boeing 737 MAX 10s.
In a statement on Monday, O’Leary welcomed the “much-needed changes” at Boeing and again emphasized the need for Boeing to regain its footing on deliveries.
Concerns have abounded about Boeing’s ability to meet delivery expectations amid the turmoil surrounding the company ever since a door plug blew off an Alaska Airlines flight in early January. On Tuesday, Moody’s Ratings said it is considering downgrading the firm’s ratings over concerns that it would not meet its deliveries goals for the year.
Boeing has delivered just 54 aircraft so far this year, falling behind by 12 deliveries compared to year-to-date figures from 2023. Meanwhile, competitor Airbus is 13 aircraft ahead of its delivery rate last year.
Moody’s noted on Tuesday that to reach 400 deliveries by year’s end, Boeing will have to deliver an average of 36 over the next ten months of 2024 — a feat the ratings agency said that will be “difficult to achieve.” Last year, Boeing delivered 528 aircraft.