Delta CEO Bastian will defer Airbus aircraft deliveries to avoid Trump tariffs
The CEO of Delta Air Lines Ed Bastian will defer new Airbus aircraft deliveries this year to avoid new tariffs placed on goods entering the US market from Europe.
Bastian set out his position on April 9, 2025, during a quarterly earnings call following the publication of Delta’s latest financial results.
“We will not pay tariffs on any aircraft deliveries we take. We will defer any deliveries that have a tariff on it,” Bastian told those listening to the call.
Bastian was speaking before President Donald Trump later announced that he was reducing European Union (EU) tariffs for 90 days from 20% to a standard 10%.
“These times are pretty uncertain, and if you start to put a 20% incremental cost on top of an aircraft, it gets very difficult to make that math work,” added Bastian.
In its published quarterly report, Delta said that “growth has largely stalled” at the airline in response to “broad economic uncertainty around global trade”.
Reporting an operating revenue figure of $14 billion, Delta said it would not provide an updated full-year outlook because of global uncertainty.
On April 10, 2025, in response to President Trump’s U-turn, the EU said that it would also pause retaliatory tariffs that were set to start on April 15, 2025.
At the start of April 2025, President Trump announced unprecedented sweeping tariffs against over 180 countries leaving the aviation industry, which relies on cross-border trade, in a perilous position.
Among the list of countries or regions affected was the European Union with a 20% tax on exports to the US, plus the UK with a 10% tax. India was hit with a 26% tariff, South Korea 25%, Japan 24% and Taiwan 32%.
On April 9, 2025, all countries facing hikes in US tariffs had their rate reduced to 10% apart from China.
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The post Delta CEO Bastian will defer Airbus aircraft deliveries to avoid Trump tariffs appeared first on AeroTime.
The CEO of Delta Air Lines Ed Bastian will defer new Airbus aircraft deliveries this year to avoid…
The post Delta CEO Bastian will defer Airbus aircraft deliveries to avoid Trump tariffs appeared first on AeroTime.
