U.S. Tariffs Cloud Airline Industry Outlook as Stocks Plummet

Airlines are in uncertain territory after President Donald Trump announced the latest round of tariffs.

The tariffs will extend to nearly all imports from a long list of countries: A baseline of 10% for trading partners; 25% on all imported cars and reciprocal tariffs on at least 50 countries are as high as 50%.

While the impact of the tariffs is indirect for airlines, the industry has taken notice. Major U.S. airline stocks plunged following the announcement. United Airlines shares were down 12%; Delta Air Lines shares fell 9%; and American Airlines was down 8%.

Delta and American had already lowered their first quarter outlooks, citing economic uncertainty as a reason.

“The outlook has been impacted by the recent reduction in consumer and corporate confidence caused by increased macro uncertainty, driving softness in Domestic demand,” Delta said in a regulatory filing. The Atlanta-based carrier is set to report first-quarter earnings April 9.

Airlines Say They Still See Growth

It’s unclear how long the tariffs will last, but Breeze Airways CEO David Neeleman said on CNBC on Thursday that the low-cost carrier was continuing to grow.

“When times get tough and people need to buy food and pay their rent, they just look a little harder for lower fares,” Neeleman said. “So, I think we’re in a really good spot. We have 87% of our routes, no non-stop competition.”

United CEO Scott Kirby said during an investor conference in March that the carrier had seen some softening demand in domestic markets, but international travel remained strong.

“Good news is that international, long haul, Hawaii, premium, all remain really strong,” Kirby said. “But we have seen government