Textron is the latest US company with a large aerospace manufacturing operation to say the Trump administration’s new tariffs are unlikely to create significant financial trouble this year.

“At this point… we certainly don’t see [tariffs] as being something that is a material impact to the company,” Textron chief executive Scott Donnelly said on 24 April during the company’s first-quarter earnings call.

Textron owns Wichita-based Textron Aviation, which operates the Cessna and Beechcraft brands, Texas helicopter maker Bell, and industrial and electric systems businesses that have interests in various industries.

Donnelly’s comments come one day after Boeing chief executive Kelly Ortberg predicted newly imposed US tariffs will not significantly impact that company’s finances. Ortberg expects Boeing will pay relatively minimal import duties and recoup some tariff expenses when it exports aircraft to non-US customers.

Though Chinese airlines have started rejecting acceptance of new Boeing jets due to the trade war, Boeing executives expect to easily resell those aircraft.

Similarly, GE Aerospace on 22 April predicted tariffs will not impede its ability to hit financial goals set prior to the new tariffs taking effect.

The Trump administration on 5 April began charging 10% taxes on most imported goods.

Donnelly says most of Textron’s manufacturing is in the USA, largely shielding it from the taxes.

While Textron does have operations in Canada and Mexico, goods crossing from those countries to the USA are exempt from tariffs under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), a trade deal negotiated during President Trump’s first administration.

So far, Trump has left in place the USMCA exemptions, which apply to aerospace products.

“We seem to be in very good shape. We haven’t seen a tariff impact in terms of anything moving amongst our North American operations,” Donnelly says. “We do have some… suppliers that are either in Europe or in Asia, but so far the impact of that has been pretty de minimis.”

Textron Aviation delivered 31 Cessna business jets in the first quarter, down from 36 in the same three months of last year, and 30 turboprop aircraft, up from 20 during last year’s period.

Donnelly says his team expected Textron Aviation’s deliveries would be “a little bit lighter” in the first quarter due to lingering effects of a 27-day worker strike last year that ended on 20 October.

The company’s aerospace factories in the first quarter “progressed toward pre-strike performance levels”, Donnelly adds. “We will see the ramp continue.”

Textron Aviation turned a first-quarter profit of $127 million, down 11% from $143 million in the first quarter of 2024. It generated $1.1 billion in first-quarter revenue, up 2% year on year.

Bell delivered 29 commercial rotorcraft in the first quarter, up from 18 in the same period last year. The helicopter company earned a $90 million first-quarter profit, up 12.5% year on year.

NEW CAREER CENTRE

Separately, Textron Aviation on 23 April said it had opened a new “Career & Learning Center” in Wichita, part of an effort to aid new-employee recruitment and provide improved training to existing staff.

The site includes “professional and technical training rooms”, an area intended to help cultivate kids’ interest in aviation, and a hanger with a “simulated manufacturing floor, preparing newly hired mechanics with unparalleled hands-on experience”, Textron Aviation says.

The company is welcoming walk-in job applicants at the facility.

Textron Aviation CEO Ron Draper says the career centre will aid “in building the next generation of aviation manufacturing, support and professional talent”.