Ryanair is negotiating with Boeing and Airbus SAS about buying as many 400 short-haul aircraft as it seeks to maintain its expansion.
Ryanair aims to take advantage of any decline in aircraft prices, should the global slump in demand for air stemming from the global slump in air travel, according to deputy chief executive officer Michael Cawley.
"We're large enough now to run two fleets," Mr Cawley told reporters at a press briefing in London yesterday.
"We see no cost handicaps that can't be overcome by running two fleets."
The carrier, based in Dublin, currently operates a fleet of 181 Boeing 737-800 aircraft and is considering ordering more of the aircraft. The airline plans to continue expansion amid falling demand by luring passengers with low fares.
Ryanair carried almost 58 million passengers last year, an increase of about 18 per cent compared with 2007, and may transport as many 200 million people a year in the "very long term," Mr Cawley said.
Ryanair says it is building up routes as rival carriers, struggling with falling traffic, reduce capacity to lower costs.
Separately today, Ryanair said the number of passengers carried rose 11 per cent in January from a year earlier.
Bloomberg