Ryanair's boss is confident that commercial jets will not be sucked into trade tensions between the United States and other trade powers, including Europe, after a meeting with a top Boeing executive. Michael O'Leary, CEO of the European budget airline, said he had met Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Stephanie Pope earlier this week and the signs were that U.S. President Donald Trump would be supportive of Boeing, barring any repeat of high-profile safety incidents. "At the heart of the Trump agenda, we don't think there's much likelihood of tariffs on aircraft (but) couldn't rule it out," he told Reuters. Speaking later to a conference hosted by the A4E European airline industry association, he said: "I met with Boeing and they don't believe there will be tariffs on aircraft or parts". O’Leary did not say how Boeing had reached this conclusion nor whether it had been briefed by the Trump administration. Boeing had no immediate comment. O'Leary, interviewed on the sidelines of the conference, also addressed plans to recover output and secure long-delayed certification for the MAX 10, a key part of Boeing's efforts to contain runaway sales of an Airbus competitor. The 737 MAX 10 is the largest member of Boeing's narrowbody jet family and Boeing is waiting for approval from regulators in the wake of a wider safety crisis. It has allocated this and other delayed development programmes to one of its top troubleshooters, Mike Sinnett. O'Leary said Boeing had agreed to supply alternative jets in time for summer 2027 if it fails to certify the MAX 10 this year. "I think we'll get our first 15 MAX 10s in 2027 but Boeing have now agreed, if they don't get certification this year and they can't deliver us MAX 10s, they will deliver us additional MAX 8s in time for summer 2027," O'Leary said, referring to the MAX 8200 high-density model currently used by Ryanair.<br/>
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Tunisian president Kais Saied has told the head of flag-carrier Tunisair that urgent measures are required to address the poor state of the airline. Saied held a meeting on 24 March with CE Halima Ibrahim Khouaja – who was appointed to the post in early November last year – and the country’s transport minister, Rachid Amri. The president stated that the Tunisair fleet has declined from 24 to just 10 aircraft, and that their interior condition is not acceptable. Saied also said that technical inspection of the aircraft exceeds 123 days in Tunisia – compared with 10 days in other companies – causing “huge financial losses” of “tens of billions of dinars”, according to the presidential office. This sum, he points out, could have been used to acquire new aircraft. Tunisair’s departure and arrival slots are not “respectable”, he says, and the airline’s service needs improvement. Saied also accused the airline of having previously engaged in recruitment based on “loyalties and favouritism”. He stressed the “need to stop this bleeding quickly” and has ordered development of a rescue plan to “restore Tunisair…to its former glory”, the office adds.<br/>
Cebu Pacific has again flagged sluggish recovery for the China market, as it confirms that it has “redeployed” capacity to other parts of its network. Citing tourism arrival figures, president and commercial chief Xander Lao says China “remains one of those countries…that have a very poor recovery ratio” post-pandemic, with tourist numbers 83% below 2019 levels. “From our perspective, we have already redeployed some of the assets that were initially intended for China to other places within network,” Lao adds. It is not the first time the airline has warned of a slow recovery from the China market: back in 2023, the low-cost operator pushed back the restart of several points in its Mainland China network, citing sluggish demand. Lao was speaking at a briefing on 27 March, following the release of the airline’s annual results for 2024. For the year to 31 December 2024, the airline reported an operating profit of Ps9.2b ($160m), up 7% year on year.<br/>