Ryanair is to establish its own in-house engine repair facilities, and is assessing around five potential sites with a view to opening the first by the end of 2028.

Chief executive Michael O’Leary detailed the plan during a Paris briefing on 10 February, as the carrier renewed for 15 years a partnership with powerplant manufacturer CFM, which supplies the CFM56 and Leap-1B engines respectively for its Boeing 737-800 and 737 Max fleets.

Ryanair is looking at locations in Spain, Portugal, Italy, the Baltic states, and Northern Ireland and aims to make an initial selection by June, the end of its first quarter.

While Northern Ireland is under consideration, O’Leary says both shops are more likely to be on the European mainland, owing to the “complications” with transporting engines and the fact that most of its aircraft are based on the continent.

He says each shop will probably require some 600 personnel, and hopes the second facility will open in 2029.

The in-house shops will give the carrier “much more control” over engine maintenance quality, turnaround time, and – to an extent – costs.

O’Leary says the company expects to make “modest” savings on powerplant maintenance costs compared with third-party rates.

But he stresses that Ryanair is not aiming to enter the third-party maintenance market, and will not be competing with CFM.

“We’ll be too busy doing our own engines to bother selling services to third parties,” he says, and points out that the airline will be “buying lots of spares” from CFM over the next 15 years.

Engine maintenance capacity has been strained as a result of supply-chain issues, the post-pandemic surge in air transport demand, and engine manufacturers’ need to address technical snags on in-service powerplants.

Ryanair’s fleet stood at 643 aircraft at the end of 2025, including 206 737 Max 8-200s. The airline expects to receive its last Max 8-200s this month and start taking the first of 300 Max 10s in spring 2027.

O’Leary says the operating fleet will rise to around 800 aircraft by 2034, giving the carrier “close to” 2,000 engines.

CFM partner Safran’s chief, Olivier Andries, states that Ryanair is the company’s largest airline customer and that – while it is taking over maintenance work from CFM – the manufacturer is “committed to support” the airline, supplying spares to help Ryanair service its engines.

Andries says the ramp-up of Leap production is “very significant” and will be “twice as fast” as that for the CFM56, but adds that the company has yet to reach the investment return phase for its Leap engines, through which it will recoup its development spending with aftermarket and spares supply.

There is a need to back third-party activities while also investing in its own maintenance shops – creating an “open and competitive” marketplace, he says – and adds that third-party shops will account for half of maintenance provision by 2040.

Andries says Safran “welcomes” maintenance investments by airlines which will give them control of scheduling and turnaround times, given the lack of capacity.

“We’re going to work with Ryanair to exchange on best practices,” he says, adding: “What’s key is to make sure we keep our customers flying.”