Michael O’Leary says that tariffs on imported Boeing aircraft, should they be introduced as a result of the breakdown in trade talks between the Eu and the USA, will have to be paid by the manufacturers, Boeing.
O’Leary has repeatedly said that tariffs are detrimental to both consumers and businesses and says ‘Trump should know better.’ A historical exemption agreement from 1979 means there are no tariffs on commercial aircraft, and Mr O’Leary says he is confident they will be restored despite current trade tensions. Ruanasir shares fell slightly in value in weekend pre trading.
Michael O’Leary shared: Tariffs will cost Boeing more. They’ll be paying the tariffs. We will be taking Boeing aircraft right out to 2034, which gives us enough traffic growth here and to grow from 200 million to 300 million passengers. We’re very happy with our Boeing orders. They’ll enable us. These new aircraft carry 20% more passengers, but they burn 20% less fuel. So, they will enable Ryanair to keep fairs very low for the next decade.
We would not want to see those aircraft come with tariffs. In much the same way, we wouldn’t want to see Airbus exports to the US uh being subject to tariffs either. Tariffs are bad for consumers and bad for business and Trump should know better
We have lots if you take aircraft, both Boeing aircraft and Airbus, that are manufactured here in Europe they have European bits engines and American avionics. For every aircraft, not unlike a motor car, it’s full of parts that are made in Europe and in America. I think that’s why commercial aircraft have always been exempt under previous tariffs. There’s a 1979 exemption agreement on all commercial aircraft. We think that’s likely to be restored even if there is tariffs applied between Europe and the US.
We would hope that Maroš Šefčovič and the European Commission will reach a deal with the Americans and that there won’t be tariffs. Tariffs are very bad for trade. They’re very bad for American consumers because ultimately while Trump talks about generating billions in revenue, the revenues be is just additional taxes coming from American consumers. Frankly, I would I think the EU should do much more take start doing taking action to address French air traffic control strikes rather than worrying about tariffs.
As regards the Chinese aircraft, they’re making very few of them at the moment, but it’s not an option for us until the late 2030s. We were talking about looking at Comac Aircraft back in 2014 when we were unable to reach agreement with Boeing on new aircraft orders. Since then, we’ve ordered aircraft from Boeing in 2016 and again in 2023.
