Delta Air Lines is flying a new Airbus SE plane through Japan to skirt U.S. import tariffs as President Donald Trump’s trade war threatens the flow of new jets to the aviation industry.
The A350-900 aircraft is set to leave Toulouse, France, home of Airbus’ main manufacturing facility, on April 30, arriving in Tokyo on May 1, according to data from FlightAware, an online tracking provider.
The move echoes a similar strategy Delta used to sidestep tariffs in 2019, flying several European-built Airbus jets to overseas locations rather than straight to the U.S. Planes are classified as "used” once they’re flown for any reason other than testing and delivery, and then tariffs usually don’t apply.
Delta declined to comment on the aircraft routing.
Chief Executive Officer Ed Bastian said on April 9 that the airline "will not be paying tariffs on any aircraft deliveries” and he’d made it "very clear” to Airbus that he would defer any planes carrying a tariff. American Airlines CEO Robert Isom also later vowed not to pay levies.
Delta has said it plans to take only 10 aircraft this year, all from Airbus. Airbus is in the process of producing several A330neo jets for the Atlanta-based carrier, with one having completed a customer acceptance flight and at least two others still undergoing flight tests, according to Aviation Flights Group data.
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