Ryanair CEO: 'we are wasting our time talking to Airbus'

Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary said the carrier "would not initiate talks with Airbus until such time as Airbus wants to initiate talks with us… Until they need an order from the Ryanair Group, frankly we are wasting our time talking to Airbus" (Reuters, 12-May-2020). Mr O'Leary said the group will "significantly reduce the scale of the Lauda fleet... We have [Airbus] aircraft that are due to be delivered over the next 12 months and we will cancel almost all of those deliveries". Mr O'Leary added if the group can reach an agreement with Boeing, "The Boeing orders we have in place would readily replace - I think Lauda will have a fleet of about 30 Airbus aircraft - we would probably replace those Airbus with Boeing over the next couple of years".