DUBLIN, Jul 13 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Europe’s largest budget airline, Ryanair, announced yesterday that, it would recruit 2,000 new pilots over the next three years.
The pilots to be recruited will be trained to fly the Boeing 737-8200 aircraft, that have been ordered by Ryanair from the U.S. plane manufacturer, according to a statement released by the airlines.
Ryanair earlier said that, it had ordered 210 Boeing 737-8200 aircraft, and the first of them had been delivered in the first half of this year, with 60 of them to be received before the peak summer of next year.
The huge investment by Ryanair in Boeing 737-8200 aircraft is intended to maintain its position, as a leading low-fare and green airline in Europe, as these new “gamechanger” aircraft have four percent more seats, 16 percent lower fuel burn and 40 percent lower noise emissions, according to Michael O’Leary, chief executive officer of Ryanair.
Ryanair’s announcement came, at a time when the airline saw a continuous growth in its monthly traffic numbers, since this Apr, after it had seen negative growth for 13 months in a row, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In Apr, Ryanair handled one million passengers. In May, the figure increased to 1.8 million, and by Jun it jumped to 5.3 million.
Ryanair predicted, in guidance for its stock investors that, it would handle an estimated 80 million to 120 million passengers in the fiscal year 2022, which extends from Apr 1 of this year till Mar 31, of the next year.
Prior to the pandemic, Ryanair’s annual traffic numbers stood at about 149 million passengers.
Headquartered in Ireland, Ryanair is a short-haul flight operator in Europe and North Africa. The company now has a fleet size of over 450 Boeing aircraft, with a total number of 16,000 skilled professionals, according to figures from the airline’s website.
