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Delta Air Lines CEO, Ed Bastian, said that the airline would not be taking any any aircraft deliveries that were subject to tariffs. This meant that the 185+ aircraft that Delta has ordered from Airbus could have held up, but Delta appears to have found a clever workaround.
Aviation watchdog, @JonNYC, reports that Delta is taking delivery of a new Airbus A350-900 tomorrow. The aircraft will head straight from the Airbus factory to Tokyo Narita International Airport (NRT). Normally, Delta would have an aircraft head to the United States. By taking it on a flight to Japan first, the aircraft is no longer considered new and not subject to the tariffs placed on new aircraft. Since Delta took the plane into commercial service outside of the United States and says it will use it solely for international flights, the tariffs can be avoided.
Matthew at Live and Let’s Fly reports that this strategy was effectively used during Trump’s first term. At the time, a spokesperson shared:
We have made the decision not to import any new aircraft from Europe while these tariffs are in effect. Instead, we have opted to use the new aircraft exclusively for international service, which does not require importation.”
A 10% tariff has been placed on Airbus aircraft made outside of the United States. This includes all widebody planes as they are all constructed outside of the US. Bastian pulled no punches when asked about delaying aircraft deliveries after the earnings call and simply said: “We will not be paying tariffs on any aircraft deliveries.” This could be the way that he holds true to that statement.
Anthony’s Take: I give Delta credit for finding a workaround. Let’s see how many times Delta attempts this trick and what they do with this first Airbus A350-900 outside of the United States.
(Featured Image Credit: Delta Air Lines.)
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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
