Washington, D.C. – President Donald Trump met with the Chief Executive Officers of United Airlines, Delta Airlines and Southwest Airlines among others in the State Dining Room. Oscar Munoz of United Airlines, Ed Bastian of Delta Airlines and Gary C. Kelly of Southwest Airlines were in attendance.
“I’m thrilled to welcome the leaders of the airline industry to the White House,” President Trump started off. “We spent 6 trillion dollars in the Middle East, we got nothing, and we have an obsolete plane system, we have obsolete airports.”
President Trump commended the airlines at prospering, despite the lack of equipment the airport provides. “Let’s order the right equipment,” Trump added. “Probably the wrong equipment costs more. We want the traveling public to have the greatest customer service and with an absolute minimum of delays.”
President Trump stated he would be making an announcement within the next three weeks that would be “phenomenal in terms of tax.”
When staff of the White House attempted to remove the press from the meeting, President Trump ordered them to stop, allowing the press to remain in the room. “Stay for a while,” President Trump told the press that was exiting the State Dining Room.
Trump Airline Discussion: Southwest Airlines
Southwest spoke first, stating the top priority for helping airlines would be to “modernize the air traffic control system.”
“I hear we’re spending billions and billions of dollars, it’s a system that’s totally out of whack,” President Trump responded. President Trump questioned why airline corporations had allowed the government to invest in a faulty system. Southwest specified that the airlines are not in control of those decisions.
President Trump said the system could potentially work better if a pilot who has experience ran FAA.