Ryanair's bargain buy from Boeing

Ryanair published the details of its acquisition of 175 passenger planes from Boeing yesterday, and claimed it had haggled for discounts so it paid 2005 prices.

The list price for each Boeing 737-800 aircraft is $78m (£52m), plus $2.9m for fitting them out, but the budget carrier said Boeing had given it "certain price concessions" that meant its final bill was "not dissimilar to the net price agreed for the aircraft delivered under the 2005 Boeing contract". At the time of that deal, when Ryanair also bought 175 planes, analysts estimated it had paid about 50 per cent of each jet's listing price.