Ryanair (Dublin) and Boeing (Chicago, Seattle and Charleston) have announced an order for three Next-Generation 737-800s. The order, previously unidentified on the Boeing Orders & Deliveries website, is valued at $280 million at current list prices. With this order the Irish low-cost carrier now has unfilled orders for 174 Next-Generation 737-800s and 100 737 MAX 200s.

This new order will allow Ryanair  to expand its Boeing fleet to over 520 aircraft.

Ryanair operates more than 1,600 flights daily from 72 bases, connecting 189 destinations in 30 countries. With a team of more than 9,700 highly skilled professionals, the airline flew more than 86 million passengers in 2014.

Also, Ryanair has reported a 29% rise in passenger numbers for February, with the low-cost carrier announcing today it carried a total of 5.8 million passengers last month, up from 4.5 million the same time last year.

The airline also said its load factor (how many seats it fills on each flight) rose 11% to 89% in February.

In a statement at the airline’s 30th Anniversary celebration of it’s first flight, CEO Michael O’Leary praised the carrier’s new “soft approach” to passenger relations and “Always Getting Better” campaign.

“If I had known that being nicer to our customers was going to work so well, I’d have been nicer to them much earlier,” O’Leary said.

Assistant Editor Oliver Wilcock reporting from Manchester.

Copyright Photo: Paul Bannwarth/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 737-8AS EI-ENR (msn 35041) completes its final approach to Las Palmas (Gran Canaria) in the Canary Islands.

Ryanair aircraft slide show: