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Ryanair CEO met with top Boeing ( BA ) executive

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Boeing ( BA ) executive downplayed threat of tariffs on aicraft

(Adds CEO comment on tariffs, adds background througout)

By Joanna Plucinska and Tim Hepher

BRUSSELS, March 27 (Reuters) - Ryanair's boss is

confident that commercial jets will not be sucked into trade

tensions between the United States and other trade powers,

including Europe, after a meeting with a top Boeing ( BA )

executive.

Michael O'Leary, CEO of the European budget airline, said he

had met Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Stephanie Pope earlier

this week and the signs were that U.S. President Donald Trump

would be supportive of Boeing ( BA ), barring any repeat of

high-profile safety incidents.

"At the heart of the Trump agenda, we don't think there's

much likelihood of tariffs on aircraft (but) couldn't rule it

out," he told Reuters.

Speaking later to a conference hosted by the A4E European

airline industry association, he said: "I met with Boeing ( BA ) and

they don't believe there will be tariffs on aircraft or parts".

O'Leary did not say how Boeing ( BA ) had reached this conclusion

nor whether it had been briefed by the Trump administration.

Boeing ( BA ) had no immediate comment.

O'Leary, interviewed on the sidelines of the conference,

also addressed plans to recover output and secure long-delayed

certification for the MAX 10, a key part of Boeing's ( BA ) efforts to

contain runaway sales of an Airbus competitor.

The 737 MAX 10 is the largest member of Boeing's ( BA ) narrowbody

jet family and Boeing ( BA ) is waiting for approval from regulators in

the wake of a wider safety crisis. It has allocated this and

other delayed development programmes to one of its top

troubleshooters, Mike Sinnett.

O'Leary said Boeing ( BA ) had agreed to supply alternative jets in

time for summer 2027 if it fails to certify the MAX 10 this

year.

"I think we'll get our first 15 MAX 10s in 2027 but Boeing ( BA )

have now agreed, if they don't get certification this year and

they can't deliver us MAX 10s, they will deliver us additional

MAX 8s in time for summer 2027," O'Leary said, referring to the

MAX 8200 high-density model currently used by Ryanair.

"I think we are getting more confident that there's a good

team of people now between (new Boeing ( BA ) CEO) Kelly Ortberg,

(Commercial CEO) Stephanie Pope and the rest now running Boeing ( BA ),

and as long as nothing unforeseen happens, I think we will get

there through 2025, 2026, 2027," O'Leary said.

PRODUCTION PROGRESS

For this year, Boeing ( BA ) has agreed to bring forward some

aircraft deliveries but this still leaves the Irish carrier

short of 30 aircraft this summer, he told Reuters.

Ryanair does not typically agree to take planes after the

height of summer, preferring to delay until the following peak

period, but it has agreed to take 25 of those aircraft between

August and October this year, he added.

Boeing's ( BA ) production of the 737 MAX has been capped at 38 a

month by federal regulators following the mid-air blowout of a

door plug last year. It has said it hopes to reach that level

and then push on to 42 some time this year, subject to approval.

O'Leary, who is briefed regularly on the progress of jets on

order by one of Boeing's ( BA ) top customers, said Boeing ( BA ) had produced

32 narrowbody planes in March and would reach a rate of 38 a

month by end-April.

It aims to reach 42 a month by September or October and 48

within 12-18 months, he said. Boeing ( BA ) has said it aims to reach

the 42 a month milestone some time this year.

There has been a marked increase in quality of deliveries in

the past year following earlier problems that included rags left

in a fuel tank, O'Leary said.