Budget airline Ryanair has agreed a ten-year maintenance deal with US jet engine maker General Electric (GE).

Dublin-based Ryanair, which operates flights from Durham Tees Valley to Dublin and will soon be operating routes to Rome, said it had signed up GE's subsidiary GE Engine Services to maintain the CFM56-7 engines on its fleet of Boeings.

GE will also provide maintenance and spare parts for 96 jets that Ryanair has ordered and up to 123 aircraft on option. The deal includes the possibility of a ten-year extension.