Ryanair cools over talk of major fleet expansion

Low-cost airline Ryanair has moved to distance itself from comments attributed to an unnamed "spokeswoman" that plans for an additional 75 to 100 new and second-hand aircraft within the next five years are "realistic".

Late on Sunday night, Reuters reported a Ryanair spokeswoman as stating: "With Ryanair's growth plans we will be increasing our fleet, one option is used aircraft, another would be new." Reuters added that the spokeswoman said that an increase of between 75 and 100 planes over the next five years was "realistic".

A broadly similar report was carried in the Financial Times yesterday, but there the reference to 75 to 100 additional craft was attributed to "industry insiders".

Ryanair's official spokeswoman in Dublin said the Reuters report was based on an interview with a Ryanair employee in Germany who has denied making the reference to 75-100 additional aircraft. The official spokeswoman said the airline's official position is that discussions have been taking place with owners of both new and second-hand aircraft for some time, but that no decisions have been made. Speculation about Ryanair's plans for additional aircraft resurfaced last week after Credit Suisse First Boston warned that the airline might use the strength of its share price to raise equity to part-fund the purchases. At the time, queries on the CSFB report directed to Ryanair chief operations officer Mr Michael Cawley by The Irish Times only elicited a comment from a Ryanair in-house public relations executive that the airline "does not comment on market speculation".

The Sunday Times quoted Mr O'Leary at the weekend as saying the suggestions from CSFB - which triggered a sharp fall in Ryanair shares last week - were wrong, although he did say that Ryanair is looking at the possibility of buying new aircraft.

The shares remain depressed with the market concerned that a placing may be in the offing in the medium term.

After hitting a €7.10 high in late December, Ryanair shares have fallen sharply in the past week and lost another 10 cents to €6.40 yesterday.