Ryanair is set to build two €400 million jet engine maintenance facilities in Europe, but neither are likely to land in Ireland.
One plant will be in eastern Europe and another in western Europe, with the airline in “active negotiations” over six sites, according to Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary.
Mr O’Leary suggested the choices could be narrowed down to “the Iberian peninsula and Morocco for western Europe, and the obvious ones in eastern Europe would [ ...] be the Baltic states and Poland.”
The airline boss largely ruled out Shannon, which was considered earlier in the process. With Ireland at full employment he said there was “very little appetite at Government level for an investment in this scale or the creation of these jobs in Ireland”.
RM Block
The Ryanair boss said Stormont was “very keen to be selected” but is currently “fourth or fifth favoured at present”. He said that Derry is one of the possible sites but noted concerns with the availability of trade labour in the area.
Relative to the scale of the project he described potential Government subsidies and incentives as “small change” as labour supply is considered the chief factor.
What can we potentially look forward to in Budget 2026?
The airline is focusing on areas in which there is “significant availability of low-cost labour and very good demographics”, and is “very close to identifying those sites.”
Construction of the plants, which could employ up to 500 people each, is expected to commence in early 2026.
Plants could overhaul up to 200 engines a year, giving sufficient maintenance capacity for up to 15 years.
Ryanair did not previously believe it would be viable to service its own engines, with the cost per service standing at $11 million (€9.4 million) per engine, but believes that a paucity of spare parts could lead to a doubling of that cost in the coming years.
