The deal is valued at over US$40 billion and will be subject to shareholder approval at Ryanair’s AGM this year.

The airline said the purchase will be facilitate the creation of 10,000 new high-paid jobs for pilots, cabin crew, and engineers, which will facilitate its goal to grow traffic from 168 million passengers in March 2023, to 300 million per year by March 2034.

The airline’s CEO, Michael O’Leary, said: “In addition to delivering significant revenue and traffic growth across Europe, we expect these new, larger, more efficient, greener, aircraft to drive further unit cost savings, which will be passed on to passengers in lower air fares.

“The extra seats, lower fuel burn and more competitive aircraft pricing supported by our strong balance sheet, will widen the cost gap between Ryanair and competitor EU airlines for many years to come, making the Boeing MAX-10 the ideal growth aircraft order for Ryanair, our passengers, our people and our shareholders.”