Ryanair warns aircraft deliveries at risk from tariff chaos

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% tariff and the sector is also affected by separate levies of 25% 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% 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, CE 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’s European factories this year, according to aviation consultancy Cirium.<br/>