What aviation execs have said about tariff turmoil, from “a chess game” to “a lose-lose”

With most major players having now reported first-quarter earnings, it’s clear that tariffs have become the gremlin on the wing of the aviation industry.

Airlines are flying fewer passengers and pulling their full-year outlooks, while plane makers are having jets returned from China. Shares of nearly all aviation giants are in the red year to date.

Like the auto industry, aerospace has joined forces to lobby the Trump administration for exemptions and tariff relief. Industry execs, oscillating between realism, optimism, and clear frustration, have had some choice quotes about the current landscape. Views range from the belief that tariffs are at odds with common sense to the idea that the levies are merely the first move in a grand game of global trade chess.

We’ve compiled quotes from some of aviation’s biggest names below:

Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury:

“Indeed, we are buying a lot from the US. We are selling to the US, we manufacture, we assemble, we develop in the US like few other companies... and we believe tariffs in this industry would be lose-lose.”

Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian:

“The 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... If you start to put a 20% incremental cost on top of an aircraft, it gets very difficult to make that math work...

“We’re acting as if we’re going [into] a recession... If [trade policy uncertainty] continues, and we don’t get resolution soon, we will probably end up in a recession.”

Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan:

“I don’t care if you call it a recession or not — in this industry that’s a recession.”

American Airlines CEO Robert Isom:

“Aircraft cost too much already. I don’t want to pay any more for aircraft. It doesn’t make sense. And certainly, we’re pulling guidance. Certainly, this is not something we would intend to absorb. And I’ll tell you, it’s not something that I would expect our customers to welcome.”

Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary:

“If tariffs are imposed on those aircraft, there’s every likelihood we may delay the delivery... We might delay them and hope that common sense will prevail.”

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby:

“We should all take a breath, we’re not to the end state yet... I was not surprised at a large tariff... it was just the first move of the chess game, and there are a lot of moves left to come... I think the President has a genuine desire to make things better for middle-class Americans.”

Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg:

“The bigger issue is making sure that our supply chain stays healthy, and we continue to see the supply chain making the deliveries and the tariff environment doesn’t slow things down in the supply chain.”