Ryanair freezes payment to Boeing on 737 Max delivery delays

Ryanair CE Michael O’Leary gave a pessimistic outlook for the resumption by Boeing of deliveries of its grounded 737 Max, saying the carrier has frozen payments to the manufacturer and started talks on recouping costs of the delay. Deliveries of the aircraft will likely slip “another couple of months” to March or April, he said Thursday, calling it the biggest operational challenge currently facing the airline. “The best outlook is the first aircraft will come in January, more realistic outlook is end of February or March,” O’Leary said. “If it runs later than March, April or May we will have to take some more aircraft out of next summer’s schedule and slow down the growth further.” Any delays in adding the new planes to its fleet could lead to more job losses. <br/>