Trump held a White House meeting with the heads of American airline bosses and Qatar Airways CEO

A recent Oval Office meeting between the Trump administration, American airlines, and Qatari airlines and ones from the United Arab Emirates descended into chaos as the airlines duked it out over unfair airline practices from the Middle East. 

The private July 18 meeting was dubbed an ”Apprentice’ worthy showdown’ by NBC News, who spoke with 10 sources privy to what the meeting contained. 

Trump is said to have blasted the big three American airlines – American, Delta, and United Airlines – while seemingly praising the Middle Eastern airlines. 

Trump blasted American Airlines CEO Doug Parker for their low stock price while the market has been surging. He also wondered why the Big Three – American Airlines, United and Delta – had taken out ads pleading to the President and the American public

He blasted American Airlines CEO Doug Parker for their low stock price while the market has been surging. Trump also scolded Delta for buying planes from the European company, Airbus, while the Middle Eastern airline was purchasing jets from Boeing Co. – located in Chicago. 

But a lot of the President’s fury was directed towards Delta CEO Ed Bastian, who failed to attend the tulmotuos meeting even though he was one of the largest proponents for a sit down. Bastian said that he had ‘previously scheduled travel’ but failed to elaborate on what that travel actually involved.

‘The president kept going back to it,’ a source explained. ‘There was a lot of yelling.’ 

But a lot of the President’s fury was directed towards Delta CEO Ed Bastian, who failed to attend the tulmotuos meeting

The ‘Big Three’ U.S. carriers have been waging a bitter but stagnant war with Qatar Airways and two Emirati airlines over the past four years.  

The bulk of the fighting is over flights between the U.S. and Europe – with the American carriers arguing that their foreign competitors are heavily government-subsidized and are undercutting them by officer low cost flights that don’t stop in the Middle East. 

More recently, Qatar Airways bought a 49 percent stake into Air Italy. The new venture helped establish new flights between Milan and the U.S., with the domestic carriers claiming that the move is a way to get around the ‘Open Skies’ agreement on civil aviation. 

Parker and United CEO Oscar Munoz expected that Trump would side with them, but were quickly blasted by Qatar Airways CEO Al Baker as being ‘liars.’

In June, Trump met with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Qatar Airways CEO, Akbar al Baker, at the White House. The invite prompted the ‘Big Three’ to air ads on Fox News to get the attention of Trump in hopes of getting him to support American business. 

‘I’ve been seeing all these ads — what’s up with these ads?,’ the president said at one point during the meeting. 

Parker and United CEO Oscar Munoz expected that Trump would side with them, but were quickly blasted by Al Baker as being ‘liars.’ 

Trump is said to have told Al Baker that he takes money from the Qatari government. 

The meeting was attended acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, new press secretary Stephanie Grisham and trade adviser Peter Navarro (pictured), among others

The meeting was attended acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, new press secretary Stephanie Grisham and trade adviser Peter Navarro, among others. 

Navarro helped put the meeting on Trump’s radar and was left in an awkward tug of war with national security adviser John Bolton and National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow.

CEOs from FedEx, JetBlue and Atlas Air were also in attendance. But these airlines were actually looking to side with Qatar as their airlines compete with the ‘Big Three.’

As the meeting wrapped up, Trump instructed the airlines to contact the Department of Transportation to share any additional grievances,