DUBLIN — Boeing’s biggest customer in Europe, Ryanair, has warned it could stop buying aircraft from the U.S. aerospace giant if Donald Trump’s tariff threats drive up prices.
Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary issued the warning Thursday in reply to a U.S. congressman who had criticized O’Leary’s open-minded attitude to buying aircraft from other makers — including China.
“If the U.S. government proceeds with its ill-judged plan to impose tariffs, and if these tariffs materially affect the price of Boeing aircraft exports to Europe, then we would certainly reassess both our current Boeing orders, and the possibility of placing those orders elsewhere,” O’Leary said in his letter to Raja Krishnamoorthi, a Democratic representative from Illinois.
Ryanair, a short-haul specialist that carries more passengers than any other European airline, has a fleet composed entirely of more than 575 Boeing 737 aircraft. Reliance on a particular make of aircraft, rather than a mixed fleet requiring a wider range of staffing and support, helps to minimize Ryanair’s operating costs.
Typically the Dublin-based airline bulk-buys each new variant of 737 at hefty discounts, including a pending order of up to 300 MAX 10 models due for delivery starting in 2027. But half of that order is optional and could be cancelled or delayed if market conditions sour.
U.S.-imposed tariffs are already undermining Boeing’s business in China. O’Leary previously has warned that Ryanair could end its Boeing-only policy if U.S. tariffs and EU countermeasures result in higher prices.
When asked, O’Leary has said that Ryanair would be potentially open to doing deals at the right price both with Airbus and China’s state-owned Comac.
Krishnamoorthi, the senior Democrat on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, wrote earlier this week to O’Leary pleading with him to rule out buying aircraft from Comac. Ryanair signed a 2011 agreement with Comac to advise the Shanghai-based firm but has not bought any Chinese aircraft.
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