Its been a wild few days for global markets as countries and companies react to the rapidly evolving landscape surrounding tariffs. Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said on the company’s first quarter earnings call yesterday that the company won’t accept any aircraft deliveries that are subject to tariffs
Delta Has Quite a Few Aircraft on Order
The Atlanta based carrier currently has 285 orders on the books, 185 of which are Airbus aircraft. The remaining 100 are for the Boeing 737-10, which is still awaiting certification and isn’t expected to join the fleet until 2027 at the earliest. Delta’s Airbus order book shows the following:
- 69 A220-300s
- 82 A321neos (18 will be in a premium, transcontinental configuration)
- 6 A330-900s
- 8 A350-900s
- 20 A350-1000s
During the earnings call, when asked about the impact tariffs will have on the carrier, Bastian said:
“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.”
When asked specifically whether Delta planned to delay deliveries due to tariffs, Bastian couldn’t have been more blunt, stating:
“We will not be paying tariffs on any aircraft deliveries.”
Between the earnings call and this post, a 90 day pause has been placed on the 20% tariff on all products from the European Union (along with all other countries aside from China). Given the demand for aircraft, especially the backlog in Airbus’ order books, it likely won’t be hard to find other carriers willing to take Delta’s delivery slots.
Airbus also operates assembly plants in the United States so this likely won’t pause all aircraft deliveries but the situation is still fluid. Currently, Delta plans to take delivery of ten aircraft in 2025, all from Airbus.
Summary
Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said on the company’s Q1 earnings call yesterday that it will not accept deliveries of any new aircraft that are subject to tariffs. Currently Delta is only expecting deliveries from Airbus for 2025 and recently took delivery of two new aircraft in the company’s 100th anniversary livery.
