Ryanair: Boeing strike causing flight route delay

Ryanair: Boeing strike causing flight route delay

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Story Published: Sep 9, 2008 at 11:21 AM PDT

Story Updated: Nov 21, 2008 at 1:56 AM PDT

By Associated Press

LONDON (AP) - Ryanair said Tuesday that the strike at Boeing Co. has forced it to delay the launch of new flight routes from Edinburgh, Scotland, by six weeks.

The Irish airline said Boeing is unable to deliver the new aircraft it needs to operate its new routes from Edinburgh to various European destinations.

Ryanair's deputy chief executive, Michael Cawley, said the airline would be able to run the new routes with aircraft from its existing fleet starting Nov. 5, six weeks later than it had planned. It will refund passengers who are due to travel before that date.

Ryanair is one of Boeing's biggest customers for the 737 aircraft and flies an all-737 fleet.

Boeing's commercial aircraft assembly plants have been shuttered since the Machinists union went on strike Saturday following the collapse of contract negotiations. The union represents 27,000 hourly production workers, including 25,000 in the greater Seattle area.

"Certainly we recognize that we're going to be missing deliveries, we're going to be unable to fulfill our commitments, and we deeply regret the inconvenience to our customers." Boeing spokesman Tim Healy said.

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