Ryanair rules out hydrogen flight as it places biggest Boeing order
RYANAIR has unveiled its biggest-ever aircraft order as one of its top executives said the switch to hydrogen or electric powered planes will not happen “in my lifetime”.
The budget carrier has agreed a $40bn (£31.7bn) deal with Boeing to buy 150 of the manufacturer’s 737 Max 10 jets with an option for a further 150.
The planes will be delivered between 2027 and 2034 and be powered by conventional aircraft engines. Neil Sorahan, 51, Ryanair’s finance chief, who was in Washington to sign the landmark deal with Boeing, said that it was a clear sign of what the future held for commercial aviation.
Hydrogen or electric power may be the future, he said. “But I’m not sure they will get there in my lifetime.”
He likened hydrogen jets to space rockets that carry a handful of passengers with huge tanks of fuel. Unlike sustainable aviation fuel, made from used cooking oils and other waste, he said hydrogen was not a “drop-in solution” and would require “massive investment” in infrastructure. “So I’m afraid it ain’t going to get there. Batteries don’t have the capacity at this stage to get the range that is needed.”
Ryanair hopes the new plane order will take the airline from carrying an estimated 225m passengers in the year to March 2026 up to 300m by 2034, at which point the carrier would have a fleet of 800 jets. Ryanair chief executive Michael O’leary said in January that hydrogen planes are “completely unfeasible” and electric-powered commercial aircraft would not become a reality by 2050. Mr O’leary, who sat alongside Mr Sorahan and Boeing chief executive Dave Calhoun at the deal-signing yesterday, appeared to have buried the hatchet after an 18-month row over Boeing plane prices.
He said: “For us it will never be cheap enough but in Boeing’s view it is always far too cheap.”
The 230-seat 737 Max 10, the largest plane in the 737 Max range, has yet to be certified by regulators in the US and Europe. Two fatal crashes in October 2018 and March 2019 led to all 737 Max aircraft being grounded between March 2019 and December 2020.
The plane is now being cleared for use on a version-by-version basis.
Relations between Ryanair and Boeing soured last year as the Irish airline became increasingly frustrated with delivery delays. Mr O’leary said the relationship with Boeing was “a bit like a marriage... we have occasional rows and occasional splits and then we come together and then kiss and make up”.