Ryanair sees no impact on flights from Boeing 737 MAX ban

WARSAW (Reuters) - Ryanair's flight schedules will not be affected by the grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX jet, the budget airline's chief legal and regulatory officer said on Thursday.

The United States joined countries around the world in grounding the 737 MAX on Wednesday, following a fatal crash in Ethiopia on Sunday.

Ryanair has ordered 135 737 MAX 200s, a modified version of the MAX 8, and has options on 75 more. It is due to take delivery of the first in April, two in May, two in June and then 50 more before the 2020 summer season.

"There is no risk for Ryanair's summer programme," Juliusz Komorek said at a press conference in Warsaw.

"Our fleet of 450 planes includes a lot of emergency planes, which are located strategically."

He said it was too early to say if Ryanair would try to cancel its order.

(Reporting by Alicja Ptak and Conor Humphries; Writing by Alan Charlish; Editing by Mark Potter)