The CEO of United Airlines has said the airline does not anticipate that the recent tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump will affect its aircraft orders, despite major airlines experiencing a decrease in demand since the tariffs were implemented.
On April 16, 2025, during the airline’s quarterly earnings call, United’s CEO Scott Kirby stated that it is “way too early to be panicking and declaring a crisis” considering the implemented tariffs.
“Aerospace is probably the number one example of a successful high-tech manufacturing export powerhouse industry in the US,” Kirby said during the call. “We’re still in the early opening game of how all this tariff is going to settle out. My recommendation to everyone would just be to take a breath and let’s wait a little while before you start making panicky moves.”
In 2024, United Airlines became Boeing’s leading customer, receiving the most aircraft deliveries for the year.
During the call, Bret Hart, the President of United Airlines, stated that since a large portion of the airline’s future orders and most of the Airbus 321neos are manufactured in the US, it does not expect “a meaningful direct impact from tariffs relating to aircraft purchases.”
Kirby added that it is a “pretty minor issue” for the airline. Instead, United is viewing it as an “opportunity” and opting for a different approach to managing the impact of tariffs.
“We view this as an opportunity to work with Airbus,” Kirby said. “We don’t need to make any definitive statements about what we will or won’t do at this moment in time. We’re going to see a few more cards before we start doing that.”
According to Kirby, the airline’s performance “is strong” even in a “softer macroeconomic environment”. However, the airline added that even though most of its international travel demand is US-based, United is seeing “modest declines” in non-US origin passenger volumes.
Andrew Nocella, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, noted that for the second quarter, the number of international passengers from Europe is down 6% compared to last year, and passenger volumes from Canada have decreased by 9% year over year.
“For United, US origin demand has more than compensated for these reductions,” she said. “As we think about the impact potential recessions could have on business traffic, it is important to note that relative to pre-pandemic, our revenue makeup is less reliant on this revenue source.”
United Airlines has forecast a financial outlook for the second quarter and the entire year of 2025 that is below expectations, despite reporting a revenue of $13.2 billion for Q1 2025.
