Ryanair announced that it will operate more than 670 routes in Europe, Africa and the Middle East by 2022; part of these will be operated with the Boeing 737-8200 Gamechanger that it expects to receive next year.
According to a press release, Ryanair would incorporate 65 aircraft of the high-density version of the Boeing 737 MAX, called «Gamechanger», after it was unable to increase its operations during the last summer peak season due to delays in the model’s re-certification in Europe.
This incorporation will allow it to reach 670 connections for the next summer season. Ryanair has recovered 560 routes and opened 14 new bases in the last 12 months, including Agadir (AGA), Fez (FEZ), Marrakech (RAK) in Morocco; Naples (NPL), Venice/Marco Polo (VCE) and Turin (TRN) in Italy; Stockholm/Arlanda (ARN) in Sweden; Billund (BLL) in Denmark; Riga (RIX) in Latvia; Newcastle (NCL) in the United Kingdom; Zadar (ZAD) in Croatia; Corfu (CFU) in Greece; Lisbon (LIS) in Portugal; Beauvais-Tille (BVA) in France and Shannon (SNN) in Ireland.
The Irish group took delivery of its first aircraft in June 2021, and to date has 34 aircraft. These have a single-class configuration to carry 197 passengers, however, the manufacturer states that it can be configured for between 200 and 210 seats. It can carry 4% more passengers than the current Boeing 737-800/-8 and saves 16% of fuel.
Based on data obtained by Aviacionline through Cirium, by December 2022 (the height of the northern hemisphere peak season) the company will have 1,207,600 seats on offer with the Boeing 737 MAX. The aircraft are based at London/Stansted (STN) in the United Kingdom; Bergamo (BGY), Bologna (BLQ), Milan/Malpensa (MXP), and Naples (NAP) in Italy; Krakow (KRK) and Warsaw/Modlin (WMI) in Poland; and Milan/Modlin (WMI) in Italy.
