Michael O’Leary has taken a swipe at the French finance minister after the politician made disparaging remarks about Boeing aircraft.

Bruno Le Maire told the Europe 2024 economics conference: “I prefer Airbus’ situation to Boeing’s. I’d rather fly an Airbus than fly a Boeing. My family too: they care about me.”

The comments come in the wake of the Alaska Air blowout in January and the current calamitous situation at the aircraft manufacturer.

However, the remarks from such a high-ranking politician have not gone down well with one of Europe’s largest operators of the aircraft type.

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“To some stupid politician saying; ‘My family doesn’t feel safe on a 737’, I say: ‘Well, then try flying on an Airbus with a problem with the engine that hasn’t been repaired,'” said O’Leary to a reporter for the Politico website, referring to the scores of A320-family aircraft grounded over the last year following problems with the Pratt and Whitney GTF engines.

O’Leary also criticised what he viewed as a lassis faire attitude among U.S regulators. “The FAA had been too kind of complacent and would simply accept anything that Boeing sent in,” O’Leary said.  “Boeing was allowed to essentially self-regulate. You can’t be just rubber-stamping whatever Boeing sends in.”

Better quality control from all concerned is, in O’Leary’s view, essential for the aviation industry.

“Every day when Airbus and Boeing produce or deliver a new aircraft, the quality of that has to be second to none. We’re paying $100 million for every one of these aircraft. We need to know that the standards of safety and that quality control is top notch in both in Toulouse and in Seattle,” concluded O’Leary.