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The purchase contract for much of Ryanair's current Boeing fleet was agreed in the months following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, when airlines struggled to place new orders, and later Ryanair regulatory filings in Dublin confirmed that it received a 53 percent discount off Boeing's list prices. In 2009, O'Leary noisily withdrew from talks to purchase more 737s and hinted that Ryanair might turn to Airbus. But both sides sang each other's praises Tuesday. "Ryanair is proud to buy Boeing, who have always made great aircraft, and the 737-800 has been the cornerstone of Ryanair's success due to its great engineering and phenomenal reliability," O'Leary said in a statement. "These 175 new airplanes will enable us to lower cost and air fares even further, thereby widening Ryanair's cost and price leadership over other airlines in Europe." Conner said Boeing's "partnership with this great European low-cost carrier is of the utmost importance to everyone at The Boeing Company, and I could not be more proud to see it extended for years to come." Ryanair is one of the world's wealthiest airlines, with more than
euro3 billion ($4 billion) in cash available. Its business model offering internet-only sales of low-fare tickets
-- accompanied by a panoply of extra charges for credit card payments, checked baggage, boarding cards and reserved seats
-- is increasingly copied by the industry.
Ryanair's specifications on its Boeings do away with standard touches, with no business-class seating and no tray tables on the backs of seats, permitting tighter spacing of passengers.
[Associated
Press;
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