A strike at a Boeing factory in Seattle in the US will have a knock-on effect on Ryanair’s growth, according to the airline’s CEO.

Over 30,000 Boeing workers walked off the job yesterday after rejecting a new pay deal by 94.6% and voting in favour of strike action by 96%.

The Seattle facility in question is where Boeing’s top-selling plane, the 737-MAX-10, is produced.

Ryanair ordered 300 of these planes last year.

On The Anton Savage Show today, Mr O’Leary said it was a “regret” to hear Boeing workers go on strike.

“I find it strange that the workers want to go on strike when their union has agreed a 25% pay increase over a four-year period,” he said.

“I don't know of many groups of workers who have been offered a 25% pay increase over a four-year period, but that's a matter for Boeing and the workers.”

Growth

He expects the news to impact Ryanair’s growth.

“We were supposed to get 50 aircraft from Boeing before the summer of 2024, but we only got 35 aircraft,” he said.

“We've had to slow down our growth this year. We originally planned to carry 205 million passengers in the current year, in 2024 – but we'll probably only hit 200 million passengers.

“We are getting some aircraft, just not as many as we had ordered.”

A Ryanair Boeing 737-8AS aircraft in Palma de Mallorca, Spain in August 2011. Picture by: Greg Bajor / Alamy Stock Photo

Following an incident earlier in the year in which a door panel detached from a Boeing plane mid-flight, Mr O’Leary is still backing the airline.

“I don't think they have a safety culture problem, but I do think they have a quality control problem,” he said.

“Boeing are still making great aircraft. The new aircraft we're taking from them now carry 4% more passengers per month with 16% less fuel.

“The technology is incredibly efficient, but we were finding lots of aircraft with silly little bits and pieces missing—a spanner here, a screw there, spanners under the floorboards of the aircraft.

“Nothing that would affect safety, but lots of concerning quality issues.”

He added that Ryanair now buys “more aircraft from Boeing than any other airline anywhere in the world.”

Passenger cap

Separately, Mr O’Leary expressed regret over past comments made against Transport Minister Eamon Ryan regarding the passenger cap at Dublin Airport.

“I would regret using the phrase idiot,” he said.

“I mean, incompetent, I think, is a much more professional criticism and is valid and justified.

“You know, he means well, he always has, but he's a bit of a spoofer.

“There’s always talk of what we can do in 2050 and what we can do in 2040.

“But when he is actually asked to do something here in 2024, like sign a ministerial order telling the IAA to continue to grow traffic at Dublin Airport, he disappears.”

The current passenger limit at Dublin Airport is 32 million annually.

You can listen back here: