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Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has warned that Europe’s largest low-cost airline could delay deliveries of Boeing aircraft if they become more expensive, setting up a battle between manufacturers and airlines over who will shoulder the costs from Donald Trump’s trade war.
“If tariffs are imposed on those aircraft, there’s every likelihood we may delay the delivery,” O’Leary told the Financial Times. Ryanair is due to receive another 25 aircraft from Boeing from August but does not need the planes until “kind of March, April 2026”, he added. “We might delay them and hope that common sense will prevail.”
His comments highlight how Trump’s tariffs are already hitting the aerospace industry, putting billions of dollars’ worth of aircraft deliveries at risk and straining supply chains.
The tariff uncertainty is unusual in a sector that — apart from an 18-month period of levies imposed as part of the dispute over subsidies for Boeing and Airbus — has largely operated without trade barriers since 1979.
Under Trump’s latest plans, imports to the US from countries other than China are subject to a 10 per cent tariff and the sector is also affected by separate levies of 25 per cent on steel and aluminium, key materials in aeroplanes. The EU last week paused imposing retaliatory tariffs on certain goods from the US.
Finished aircraft and parts imported into the US will be hit by the 10 per cent levy. But building planes in the US and elsewhere will also become more costly, as manufacturers are reliant on international supply chains that span Asia, Europe and the US.
Ed Bastian, chief executive of Delta Air Lines, said last week that the US carrier would defer its orders from Airbus rather than pay tariffs. Delta is scheduled to receive 10 wide-body jets from Airbus’ European factories this year, according to aviation consultancy Cirium.
“We will not be paying tariffs . . . If you start to put [an] incremental cost on top of an aircraft, it gets very difficult to make that math work. So, we’ve been clear with Airbus on that,” he said.
O’Leary said there would be a “significant debate” over whether manufacturers or airlines bear the costs of tariffs: “The airlines will say the manufacturer must pay. I’m sure the manufacturer will insist the airline pays.”
“The tariffs are to be paid by those who are importers,” insisted a senior aerospace executive.
The escalating tensions between the US and China have also prompted concern among Chinese carriers. Shanghai-based Juneyao Airlines has delayed the delivery of a Boeing 787 jet due to the uncertainties, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Industry supply chains span the globe with both Airbus and Boeing importing parts for new aircraft from various regions. Airlines and aircraft lessors also buy spare parts for their fleets from both sides of the Atlantic.
France’s Safran, for example, supplies landing gears to Boeing, while America’s Collins Aerospace designs and supplies landing gear components and systems for the Airbus A350 aircraft.
Engine manufacturers similarly source components from both sides of the Atlantic. CFM International, for example, the engine joint venture between GE Aerospace of the US and France’s Safran, builds the Leap 1B engine for Boeing.
Several industry executives said they were already dealing with a huge increase in the amount of paperwork and red tape needed to comply with existing tariffs, notably those on steel and aluminium. Companies had to provide the weight of individual components as well as the origin of the metal, said one senior manager.
Rob Morris, head of Cirium’s consultancy business Ascend, said a 10 per cent tariff was significant for aircraft sales. He added that Delta alone would “easily looking at additional costs of close to $150mn” for its Airbus widebody aircraft in 2025.
One aerospace chief executive said there were still “a lot of questions” over how tariffs would be levied and calculated.
“There’s definitely going to need to be work to figure out how those costs are passed along,” he said. “The ultimate person paying the cost is the person buying the ticket.”
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