Low-cost carrier Ryanair has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac), with a view to potentially taking the manufacturer’s C919 aircraft in the future.
The carrier says it will “participate in discussions on the development of the Comac C919 aircraft for Ryanair, which would be designed to carry up to 200 passengers and should be available from 2018 onwards”.
The airline also said that it would “share its experience and expertise to assist Comac to develop the new C919 commercial aircraft”, and CEO Michael O’Leary said that “we are pleased that there is now a real alternative to Boeing and Airbus, and we are seriously interested in the development of a 200 seat variant of the C919 aircraft”.
He added that that Ryanair remains “in continuing discussions with both Boeing and now COMAC for a replacement aircraft order of at least 200 aircraft”, and said that the carrier “can become a two aircraft operator carrier, as long as the economies achieved by our current Boeing 737-800 fleet can be matched or lowered by a similar sized order from a different manufacturer”. Ryanair will have over 300 Boeing aircraft in its fleet by 2013.
The Comac C919 will compete against Airbus’ A320 and Boeing’s B737, and the manufacturer has received orders from several Chinese carriers for the aircraft, including China Eastern Airlines, Air China, Hainan Airlines and China Southern Airlines.
For more information visit ryanair.com.
Report by Mark Caswell
