The Irish budget carrier is one of the biggest customers of the MAX model, with 210 currently on order. However, to date, it hasn’t received any.
Talking to Bloomberg TV in Brussels, O’Leary said, “If the price is right we’ll buy aircraft. I’m only interested in aircraft that will enable me to lower my operating costs.
“Airbus’s order book has been largely full and the pricing has been high for four or five years.”
While additional orders could be a boon for Boeing, O’Leary did not rule out approaching competitors like Airbus.
O’Leary said that the talks with Boeing were geared towards taking on more MAX 200s (a high-capacity variant of the baseline MAX 8 model), and larger MAX 10 models.
The latter would provide additional seating capacity, with space for 200+ passengers on a two-seat configuration.
Of those already on order, the company was expected to take delivery of the first 55 prior to the 2020 European summer season, but now expects them in the summer of 2021.
It was due to take delivery of the first 55 in time for this summer but now expects them by the summer of 2021.
