Donald Trump, Meeting With Airline CEOs, Targets Air-Traffic Control System
February 09 2017 - 11:27AM
Dow Jones News
By Carol E. Lee and Susan Carey
WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump, meeting with airline
executives at the White House on Thursday, suggested adopting
changes to the government's air-traffic control system and placing
a pilot at the head of the Federal Aviation Administration.
Mr. Trump also promised the executives he would reduce
government regulations, lower taxes on American businesses and fund
infrastructure upgrades, all of which he said would help their
companies hire more workers.
His agenda received a warm reception from those who attended the
meeting, which included chief executives from United Continental
Holdings Inc., Delta Air Lines Inc., Southwest Airlines Co., Alaska
Air Group Inc. and heads of airports in Los Angeles and
Atlanta.
Mr. Trump said the air-traffic control system is "totally out of
whack" and said his polices would soon start helping companies such
as airlines hire more people, including "rolling back burdensome
regulations" and "lowering the overall tax burden of American
businesses."
"We want the traveling public to have the greatest customer
service and with an absolute minimum of delays," Mr. Trump said.
"And we have an obsolete plane system, we have obsolete
airports."
Since Mr. Trump's election, airlines and airports have said they
are optimistic about his plans to lower taxes and raise
infrastructure spending. But it isn't yet clear how those policies
would be implemented.
Mr. Trump promised an announcement within the next three weeks
that he promised would be "phenomenal in terms of tax."
He invited each of the meeting's attendees to speak.The head of
Southwest Airlines said their top priority would be for the
government to "modernize the air-traffic control system."
The meeting occurred amid disagreement over terms granted to
some foreign carriers and uncertainty over the administration's
travel ban on citizens of seven nations.
Among the airline executives on the guest list for the meeting:
Ed Bastian, CEO of Delta Air Lines, the No. 2 U.S. carrier by
traffic; Oscar Munoz, CEO of United Continental Holdings, No. 3;
Gary C. Kelly, chairman and CEO, Southwest Airlines; Brad Tilden,
chairman and CEO, Alaska Air Group; Bill Flynn, president and CEO,
Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, Inc.; Dave Bronczek, president and
chief operating officer, FedEx Corp.; Robin Hayes, president and
CEO, JetBlue Airways Corp.; Myron Gray, president of U.S.
operations, UPS; and Nicholas E. Calio, president and CEO of
industry group A4A.
Doug Parker, CEO of the largest carrier, American Airlines Group
Inc., wasn't able to attend because he was scheduled to host 1,600
employees at an all-day conference, the company said earlier.
Write to Carol E. Lee at carol.lee@wsj.com and Susan Carey at
susan.carey@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 09, 2017 11:12 ET (16:12 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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