Ryanair's group chief executive is looking to Boeing's new head of commercial airplanes to fix problems that have delayed deliveries and held up his company's growth, but said today he did not care who becomes the overall boss.
Dave Calhoun on Monday said he would step down as CEO of Boeing by the year-end following the departure of the company's commercial plane-making chief and its chairman.
Also on Monday, Boeing named Stephanie Pope as head of its commercial airplanes division, making her a contender for the top job.
Michael O'Leary said the most important thing was to fix the problems that have held up the expansion of Ryanair, Europe's largest airline and one of Boeing's biggest customers.
He was speaking to reporters in Krakow, Poland, where Ryanair has invested in a pilot-training centre.
While he would have preferred Calhoun to stay on to complete the turnaround after a safety crisis, Mr O'Leary said what was needed was for Pope to stay in Seattle and "get deliveries back on track".
"No, no, no. We want her in Seattle," he said when asked if Pope should be considered as a successor for Calhoun.
He described Boeing as "a big two-headed monster".
"Who runs Boeing in Washington and who deals with Congress, I don't give a s***e," he said.
Michael O'Leary has nevertheless consistently backed Calhoun and has blamed Boeing's problems on production management.
A revolt by US airline bosses helped to topple Calhoun, people familiar with the discussions told Reuters.
The crisis at Boeing is set to leave Ryanair 17 aircraft short of the 57 Boeing MAX 8200 planes that were scheduled to be delivered by the end of April.
Michael O'Leary said today he was "reasonably confident" Boeing would meet Ryanair's request that the delayed aircraft be delivered in time for the 2025 summer holiday season, in addition to the 30 Boeing has already committed to provide.
The delays have forced Ryanair to cut some routes from its 2024 summer schedule, the period of the year when it makes most of its profit, and reduce its traffic forecast for the next 12 months.
Mr O'Leary said that with Pope in charge in Seattle, Ryanair expects to "get a couple of extra aircraft in June and maybe July" enabling it to be possible add some additional routes.
Ryanair buys 1,000 tonnes of SAF from Shell
Meanwhile, Ryanair said today it has purchased 1,000 tonnes of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from global energy group Shell, which will be supplied to the airline at its Stansted Airport base.
This is enough SAF to fuel over 200 flights from Stansted to Madrid.
Today's purchase follows the agreement made between the companies in 2022, providing Ryanair with unique access to purchase up to 360,000 tonnes of SAF from Shell between 2025 and 2030, which could save up to 900,000 tonnes in CO2 emissions.
Ryanair's Director of Sustainability and Finance, Thomas Fowler, said the airline continues to lead the way in sustainable aviation.
"As demonstrated today at Stansted, by using SAF, the latest engine technologies and electric ground handling equipment, we are making significant investments to decarbonise our operations and achieve our commitments of net zero carbon emissions by 2050 and 25% less CO2 emissions per passenger/km by 2031," Mr Fowler said.
"Today's announcement of Ryanair's purchase of 1,000 tonnes of SAF from Shell is testament to that. We will continue to work with our partners across the network to make every Ryanair flight as environmentally efficient as possible," he added.
