Ryanair has taken delivery of its first Boeing 737-8200 ‘gamechanger’ aircraft.

The aircraft flew overnight from Seattle and was due to land in Dublin Airport late on Wednesday afternoon.

This is the first delivery of Ryanair’s 210 firm order of the gamechanger aircraft, which will carry 4% more passengers but reduce fuel consumption by 16% per seat, lower noise emissions by 40% and lower CO2 emissions by a similar amount.

The 737-8200 is the revised name for the Boeing 737 Max, which was grounded for 20 months after two fatal crashes, the first in October 2018 and the second four months later.

Chief Executive Michael O’Leary said: “Ryanair expects to take delivery of an additional 50 of these B737 Gamechanger aircraft before summer 2022, which will enable the Ryanair Group to rebound strongly, offering new routes, lower fares, and rapid traffic recovery to many partner airports across Europe as the tourism industry rebuilds from the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020/2021.”