Irish budget airline Ryanair is calling off talks to buy jets from US aircraft manufacturer Boeing in a deal worth tens of billions of dollars, citing disagreements over price, the BBC reports. Reuters.

Ryanair is one of Boeing's largest customers, but the two companies' relationship has now taken a serious turn. The parties have been negotiating for several months about an order for up to 250 aircraft of the 737 MAX 10 model, but on Monday Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary announced that the talks have collapsed.

”"We are disappointed that we were unable to reach an agreement. Boeing has a more optimistic view of aircraft prices than we do, and we have a history of not paying high prices for aircraft," he said, according to Reuters.

The 250 aircraft that the companies have negotiated are worth a total of $33 billion, but even after deducting industry-wide discounts, the deal would be worth well over $10 billion – equivalent to 85 billion kronor – analysts told the news agency.

A deal with Analysts said Ryanair would help Boeing's reputation after the two fatal crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia that helped ground the 737 MAX for nearly two years. The large order would also help speed up the industry's recovery from the pandemic slump.

Despite the turbulence, analysts and industry experts expect that the two companies will eventually reach an agreement and that the tough tone from Ryanair's CEO is just one step in putting pressure on Boeing, writes Reuters. Ryanair also already has a backlog of 210 MAX 8-200 planes.

Ryanair's shares traded up 1.5 percent on the London Stock Exchange on Thursday. We'll see how Boeing's shares react to the news on Tuesday when Wall Street reopens after the long weekend.

Source: di.se