Ryanair CEO says may order more Boeing jets=20 =09 =09 Friday November 15, 7:26 PM EST=20 (Adds detail, byline) By Chris Stetkiewicz SEATTLE, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Irish no-frills carrier Ryanair Holdings Plc (RYA) could buy 50 to 100 more Boeing Co. (BA <http://money.excite.com/jsp/qt/full.jsp?time=3D0&symbol_search_text=3DBA= > ) 737-800 jetliners beyond the 131 it has already ordered, the airline's chief executive said on Friday. The rapidly growing airline, Europe's second largest budget carrier, took delivery of its 24th 737 on Friday. It ordered 100 more last January, along with options for another 50, three of which have been converted into firm orders. "We are talking to Boeing not just about exercising those options, but taking more options and maybe adding more firm orders to the existing order," Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary told reporters at a Boeing delivery center in Seattle. =20 <http://ae.excite.com/adclick/CID=3D00006c667d9372bc00000000/acc_random=3D= 91 36505741/site=3Dexcite.reuters/area=3Dmoney.news/aamsz=3D336x280> =09 "I see no reason why we couldn't take another between 50 or 100 aircraft," O'Leary said, in remarks punctuated with lighthearted references to drinking in a Seattle Irish pub and jabs at Boeing rival Airbus SAS (EAD) (EAD). "We are working with Boeing on a special mission in Europe, and that's going to be kicking the ass of Airbus customers and kicking the ass of Airbus all over Europe," O'Leary said. As airlines delay deliveries of hundreds of jets ordered from Boeing and Airbus amid a staggering travel slump steepened by the Sept. 11 attacks, Ryanair could snap up slots that open up in the coming months. Additional orders could be tacked on to the end of Ryanair's current delivery schedule, which runs through December 2008, O'Leary said. The carrier plans to buy all its jets directly from Boeing rather than leasing, which can cost more. With $1 billion in cash on hand and credit lines for another $2 billion, Ryanair has ample financing available for the purchases. "The cheapest way is buying them and we want the lowest cost," O'Leary said, noting that its orders have been partly financed by low-cost loans guaranteed by the U.S. government through the Export-Import Bank. SOUTHWEST IS THE MODEL Ryanair has modeled itself after U.S. discount fare king Southwest Airlines Inc. (LUV <http://money.excite.com/jsp/qt/full.jsp?time=3D0&symbol_search_text=3DLU= V> ), which also operates an all-737 fleet and, like Ryanair, continues to post profits while many traditional carriers teeter near bankruptcy. Ryanair chose the 189-seat 737-800, with 40 more seats than Southwest's preferred 737-700 or the A319 that Airbus had proposed, according to O'Leary. "We are and will always be a Boeing customer," he added. Not surprisingly, O'Leary blasted Ryanair's larger UK-based rival easyJet Plc (EZJ), which last month ordered 120 Airbus A319s over 737s in a blockbuster deal that shattered Boeing's near-stranglehold on the low-fare market. EasyJet boasted of the huge price cuts Airbus gave as well as pledges to minimize the cost of operating two different aircraft types by supplying training and buying back as many as 10 of the airline's current 737s. But regardless of the concessions from Airbus, easyJet will still endure higher costs for maintenance and training by taking on a new jet type, O'Leary said. "It's simply insane to run a two-aircraft fleet," he said, though he noted Airbus was a very good company that builds very good aircraft. EasyJet, which also turns a profit, has bought former rival discount carrier Go-Fly Ltd and has an option to buy British Airways Plc's (BAY <http://money.excite.com/jsp/qt/full.jsp?time=3D0&symbol_search_text=3DBA= Y> ) loss-making Deutsche BA as players jockey for position in Europe's burgeoning low-fare market. O'Leary also predicted another all-Airbus discount carrier, New York-based JetBlue Airways (JBLU <http://money.excite.com/jsp/qt/full.jsp?time=3D0&symbol_search_text=3DJB= LU> ), would never be able to compete with Southwest on price if it ventures outside its home market based at JFK International Airport in New York. "It (JetBlue) is a very good, niche product, but that's all it's ever going to be is a niche product," O'Leary said. JetBlue shares soared after an initial public offering in April, but have since fallen more than 50 percent from their record high. The low-cost, full service carrier posted a third-quarter profit while mainline U.S. carriers lost billions.=20 =A92002 Reuters Limited.