RYANAIR will today take delivery of its first Boeing Max jet after a more than two-year delay following two deadly crashes involving the aircraft type.

Ryanair is among the US plane maker’s biggest customers but has heavily criticised Boeing’s Seattle operation in recent weeks for delays in its Max delivery schedule and a lack of communication.

The Ryanair Max 737 8-200 jet was over Greenland en route to Dublin at mid afternoon on Wednesday. It’s due to arrive at about 6pm Irish time.

But last December, Ryanair gave Boeing a major boost by ordering an additional 75 Max 737-8 200 jets, bring the Irish carrier’s total orderbook for Max aircraft to 210. They’re worth more than $22bn (€18bn) at list prices.

Last month, Ryanair group chief executive Michael O’Leary launched a scathing attack on Boeing in relation to the airline’s Max deliveries.

Ryanair had anticipated having its first Max jet in service in March.

In April, it was forced to cut the number of the aircraft it expected to have in service this summer from 24 to 16. Mr O’Leary said last month as the airline released full-year results that Ryanair had hoped to have 14 for this summer.

“Now we don’t know if we’ll have any,” he told analysts.

Mr O’Leary said he wrote to Boeing in Seattle 10 days previously looking for an update on deliveries in advance of releasing Ryanair’s results.

“Despite being Boeing’s largest customer in Europe, we can’t even get them to reply to a letter over a period of 10 days,” he said. “They just need to get their act together in Seattle,” he added.

Mr O’Leary has described the Max jet as a “game-changer” for the industry, delivering more seats but lower operating costs.

Ryanair has also been in talks with Boeing on an additional order for its Max 10 jets.

“Most of our focus in our recent discussion with Boeing has been on getting the aircraft delivered and advancing discussions on a Max 10 order,” said Mr O’Leary. “But the delivery and discussion on a Max 10 order have been hijacked by these unexplained and continuing delays in delivering the gamechanger aircraft to us.”

In March 2019, Ethiopian Airways flight ET302 crashed shortly after taking off from Addis Ababa.

All 157 people on board the Max aircraft were killed, including Irishman Micheál 'Mick' Ryan.

The crash in Ethiopia came five months after 189 people on board a Lion Air 737 Max flight in Indonesia died when it crashed into the Java Sea.

The Max aircraft’s maneuvering characteristics augmentation system (MCAS) software was identified as the source of the flight problems that led to the two crashes.

While MCAS was designed to push the Max's nose down if it detected a stall, the flight control system could operate incorrectly, forcing the Max jets into dives.

While Boeing pilots reportedly knew years before that the MCAS system was causing a problem, the firm is said to have hidden MCAS from commercial flight crews until after the first crash.