Delta Air Lines will not incur tariffs on future aircraft deliveries while deferring any new deliveries if tariffs are involved, CEO Ed Bastian said during the first-quarter investors’ call for 2025.
The airline faces uncertain times, with a 20pc tariff making profitability challenging, prompting a hope for resolution through trade talks instead of actions from Delta or Airbus.
US President Donald Trump recently imposed 20pc tariffs on imports from the EU, where Airbus is located, and 10pc on imports from the UK, where Rolls-Royce is headquartered.
Delta has numerous aircraft orders including sixty-nine A220-300s, eighty-two A321-200NX, and 100 B737-10s from Boeing.
Delta has experienced a decrease in bookings due to the ongoing trade war, particularly in domestic routes and some international markets like Canada, although its president, Glen Hauenstein, noted resilience in international revenues.
Delta CEO Ed Bastian shared: “In terms of import balance-imbalance between the US and Europe for the aerospace industry, the US exports six times to Europe the amount of trade that Europe imports to the US. That is a really important fact to know and I hope our leaders in Washington are paying attention to that, “We will do our very best to see what we have to do to minimise tariffs. But one thing that you need to know we are very clear on is that we will not be paying tariffs on any aircraft deliveries we take from Airbus. We will defer any deliveries that have a tariff on them.”
Delta President Glen Hauenstein, shared. “While not immune in this environment, we do continue to see greater resilience in international and our diversified revenue streams, including Premium and Loyalty, So far the company has not observed any significant decline in international fares coming into the US from abroad. We are mindful that could happen, but we haven’t seen it yet. But that only represents about 20pc of our international point-of-sales revenue.”
