A top politician said he avoids flying on Boeing planes because his family 'care about me.' An airline boss jumped to its defense and called him stupid.

• French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said he and his family don't like flying on Boeing planes.
• Ryanair's CEO called him a "stupid politician" and his comments "silly and ill-advised."

A top French politician's comments about Boeing's safety sparked a provocative response from the planemaker's biggest European customer.

At the Europe 2024 conference in Berlin on Tuesday, Bruno Le Maire, the French finance minister, said he would hesitate to fly on a Boeing jet.

"I'd rather fly Airbus than Boeing. My family too: they care about me," Le Maire said.

"I prefer the situation of Airbus to that of Boeing," he added.

Le Maire isn't the first person to make such comments in the wake of Boeing's latest crisis following the Alaska Airlines blowout in January.

Ed Pierson, a Boeing whistleblower who testified to Congress about production problems, told CNN he got off a plane when he realized it was a Boeing 737 Max.

It's also worth noting that Airbus is headquartered in Toulouse, France, and has received funding from the French government.

Michael O'Leary, the CEO of Ryanair which is Boeing's biggest European customer and only flies the 737, snapped back at Le Maire in an interview with Politico.

The typically outspoken boss called Le Maire a "stupid politician" and called his comments "silly and ill-advised."

"We live in a world where we encourage free speech and Donald Trump is talking rubbish. So is Bruno Le Maire," he added.

O'Leary also pointed to Airbus' problems with a manufacturing defect in Pratt & Whitney engines, which will ground hundreds of jets for inspections.

However, he also criticized US regulators for not being stringent enough in regards to Boeing production.

"Boeing was allowed to essentially self-regulate," O'Leary told Politico. "You can't be just rubber-stamping whatever Boeing sends in."

"We need to know that the standards of safety and that quality control is top notch in both in Toulouse and in Seattle," he added.

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that a group of US airline CEOs are set to meet with Boeing's board to express their concerns over the blowout and production problems.