Ryanair operates one of the largest fleets in Europe. By far the airline, and its subsidiary brands, is the largest user of the Boeing 737. However, in its infancy, the the Irish low cost carrier operated a variety of aircraft types. This is no longer the case nowadays and here’s the Ryanair fleet structure right now.
The Fundamental Choice in The Ryanair Fleet
As we have seen in a previous post, low-cost airlines around the world opt for flying one aircraft type. To sum it up this reduces costs significantly for the airlines. Ryanair is no exception to this rule. They too operate a one aircraft type fleet.
The aircraft of choice for Ryanair is the Boeing 737 in two of its variants. All of their Boeing 737s are laid out in a one class configuration with a 3-3 setup on 33/35 rows. This enables the airline to carry from 189 to 197 passengers on a fully loaded aircraft. A truly incredible number, although not the most comfortable for the passengers.
The Composition of the Low-Cost Carrier’s Fleet
As we already mentioned the Irish Goliath of low-cost flights, operates an all 737 fleet. However, Ryanair controls more than one brand but uses them all in the same way operating a unified network. The planes do dress different liveries and look quite different, for that reason let’s split the breakdown of the fleet in main line and subsidiary brands.
As for the main brand, the Ryanair livery painted planes, it flies and operates a total of:
- 220 Boeing 737-800 with a capacity of 189 passengers
- 104 Boeing 737 MAX 200 with a capacity of 197 passengers
This is a less known fact about Ryanair its operations and fleet. The holding company owns mor than one brand and uses these subsidiary brands the same way it uses the main brand. The other three controlled brands are:
- Lauda Europe
- Buzz
- Malta Air (not to be confused with Air Malta)
With all of that out of the way here’s how their fleets are structured:
- 131 Boeing 737-800 with a capacity of 189 passengers (Operated by Malta Air)
- 59 Boeing 737-800 with a capacity of 189 passengers (Operated by Buzz)
- 43 Boeing 737 MAX 200 with a capacity of 197 passengers (Operated by Malta Air)
- 13 Boeing 737 MAX 200 with a capacity of 197 passengers (Operated by Buzz)
Speaking about the 737 MAX 200, Ryanair has an order for another 135 of the type. Therefore these will gradually replace the “older” 737-800s that the airline will e phasing out.
Had to put older in inverted quotes as Ryanair is known to have an extremely average age fleet. This is done purposely to avoid rising costs in maintenance and checks that the airliners move on in year, hence saving the airline money.
