Irish budget airline Ryanair has agreed to buy 25 fuel-efficient Boeing 737 passenger planes, exercising part of an option agreed more than three years ago, the pair announced Tuesday.
The 737 MAX 200 aircraft, worth $3.0 billion (2.5 billion euros) at list prices, will help Ryanair to meet its target of carrying 200 million passengers a year by 2024, the Dublin-based carrier said in a joint statement.
In September 2014, Ryanair bought 100 of the 197-seater planes from Boeing for a list price of $11 billion ahead of usual discounting -- and with an option to purchase another 100 of the planes that reduce also noise emissions compared with earlier models.
"We are delighted that Ryanair has decided to order an additional 25 higher capacity 737 MAX 8s as it continues to significantly grow its fleet and increase capacity across its network," said Ihssane Mounir, vice president of Commercial Sales & Marketing at Boeing.