Irish airlines are set to spend €18 billion on about 300 planes over the next 20 years, one of the world's leading aircraft manufacturers, Boeing, predicted yesterday.
The US-based company, which is supplying Ryanair with its new 737-800 fleet, said that the global aviation business had recovered from the fall in business sparked by the attack on New York's World Trade Centre three years ago.
As a result, Mr Drew Magill, director of market analysis with the multinational, forecast that there would be significant demand from Irish carriers for new Boeing craft over the next two decades.
Mr Magill calculated that on a rough analysis, Irish-based carriers would be likely to need 300 new craft over the next 20 years at a total projected cost of €18 billion.
The majority of craft would be single-aisled Boeing 737 type models, he said. Currently, four out of five of the total Irish fleet are 737s.
Boeing believes that European airlines will need a total of 7,000 craft, valued at €431 billion, over the same period. The bulk of these will be the single-aisle type models.
Much of the growth in Europe will come from low-cost carriers, according to Mr Drew. These operators are also driving demand for single-aisle craft, which suit the non-stop, short-haul services that they offer.
Mr Magill was bullish about the prospects for growth in the European industry. He said Boeing expected air traffic in the region to grow at 4.1 per cent annually over the next 20 years.
"The whole European region will be an incredibly promising market over the next 20 years," he said. "We see the rate of growth for passenger traffic outpacing overall economic growth in the region."
Mr Magill said that the world market would need 25,000 craft, at a cost of €1.6 trillion, over the next 20 years. Larger, twin-aisle craft would take 43 per cent of this market.
Ryanair yesterday revealed that it planned to sell its 20 737-200 craft to the US firm, Autodirect Aviation, for just over €8 million. The craft date back to between 1980 and 1983, and the budget airline had already retired six of them.
The remaining 14 are scheduled to retire between next month and December 2005. Ryanair will deliver them after these dates. Autodirect Aviation supplies used aircraft and parts to the industry.
Ryanair is in the process of taking delivery of 145 new Boeing 737-800s. According to yesterday's statement, it now has 59 of them and the remaining 96 are on order. The company said yesterday that the sale would not result in either a gain or loss being charged to its accounts.
