Ryanair’s €800 Million Gamble: 1,000 New Jobs as Airline Shifts to Low-Cost Engine Maintenance Hubs

One site will be located in Eastern Europe and the other in Western Europe. According to CEO Michael O’Leary, the negotiations are focusing on "the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco" in the West, and on "the Baltic States and Poland" in the East.

For Ireland, the Shannon candidacy has been abandoned. Michael O’Leary justifies this choice by full employment, stating that there is "very little appetite at the government level for an investment of this magnitude or the creation of these jobs in Ireland," reports the Irish press.

The decisive selection criterion is the availability of a large "low-cost workforce," which Morocco could easily provide. This element takes precedence over government subsidies, which the management describes as "little."

This strategic shift aims to counter the rise in maintenance costs, estimated at $11 million per engine, and the risk of parts shortages. The construction of the plants will begin in early 2026, with a capacity to overhaul 200 engines per year.