Ryanair to buy rival low-cost carrier, orders planes from Boeing LONDON (AP) =97 Low-cost carrier Ryanair said Friday it will buy rival buzz= =20 airline for about $24.7 million in a deal that would leave it with only one= =20 major rival in the European no-frills airline market, Britain's=20 easyJet. Separately, Ireland-based Ryanair said Friday it has placed an=20 order for 22 new Boeing 737-800 jets with options for 78 more in a deal=20 potentially worth $6 billion. Ryanair said it agreed acquire buzz from KLM Royal Dutch Airlines for 23.9= =20 million euros, and would draw on cash reserves of more than 1.05 billion=20 euros ($1.13 billion) to pay for the purchase. Ryanair Chief Executive=20 Michael O'Leary described the takeover as a bargain that his company=20 couldn't pass up, despite its policy of avoiding acquisitions. "This=20 opportunity, at this nominal cost, is the type of offer which we could not= =20 refuse," O'Leary said. "The financial cost is small and the diversion of=20 management time will be minimal since buzz is based at our main United=20 Kingdom base." Buzz operates a network of 21 routes from London Stansted =97 Ryanair's main= =20 British base =97 to destinations in Germany, Holland, France and Spain, as= =20 well as two French domestic routes. Ryanair said it would expand further=20 at Stansted as a result of the deal, which would also increase the number=20 of passengers buzz carries from just under 2 million a year to more than 4= =20 million a year. O'Leary said buzz suffered from an expensive fleet and=20 congested airports, but said Ryanair would "solve both problems within 12=20 months." KLM will take back buzz's six BAE 146 aircraft by March 2004, and= =20 Ryanair will replace them with Boeing 737s, Ryanair said. Buzz already has= =20 six Boeing 737s. "I am confident that this significant and timely=20 rationalization will eliminate these losses in buzz over the coming year,"= =20 O'Leary said. Ryanair's airplane order announced Friday comes on top of the one Ryanair=20 placed last year for 100 737s, with an option to buy 50 more. It has since= =20 exercised three of those options. The latest order means Ryanair will=20 increase its fleet of 737s to a total 250 over the next eight years. The=20 carrier described the deal as being worth up to "a value of $6 billion."=20 Boeing confirmed that was the list price for 100 aircraft but declined to=20 comment on whether Ryanair had secured any discount. Ryanair serves 100=20 destinations in 15 countries, and carried more than 15 million passengers=20 in the year ending March 31, 2003. It said it expected to be able to carry= =20 50 million passengers a year thanks to the new aircraft. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: www.pichemas.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************