Ryanair hopes to order 200 aircraft.

Irish budget airline Ryanair said on Tuesday it wanted to wrap up an order for 200 aircraft from either Boeing or Airbus by the end of the year, for delivery after 2012.

Chief executive Michael O'Leary said: "If for some reason we can't conclude an agreement with Boeing and Airbus, certainly by the end of the year, we will simply announce we are not going to buy any more aircraft.

"We will then stop growing beyond 2012 when our current delivery stream runs out."

Ryanair's fleet currently consists of Boeing aircraft but O'Leary said if Airbus offered a better deal he would order Airbus planes.

If he couldn't conclude a deal he would start distributing cash to shareholders.

"If you can't get Boeing or Airbus to make a decision between now and December I will lose interest and go with plan B," he said.

O'Leary was speaking at a press conference in London after the BBC current affairs TV programme Panorama broadcast a profile of the airline on Monday which said its website was misleading and that it imposed hidden charges.

"We have plenty of charges but none of them are hidden," said O'Leary, who reiterated that charging passengers to use the toilets remained a longer-term aim.

(Reuters)