FORT WORTH, Texas _ American Airlines chief executive Doug Parker will miss a meeting at the White House on Thursday where airline executives plan to meet with President Trump to discuss aviation issues.
The meeting conflicts with American's annual leadership conference in Dallas where Parker will outline the carrier's vision for 2017 to over 1,600 American employees.
"He unfortunately will be unable to attend the meeting and already has been in touch with the White House regarding this conflict," the Fort Worth-based airline said in a statement. "Doug shares President Trump's commitment to modernizing our nation's infrastructure and looks forward to working with his administration to ensure all Americans have access to safe and efficient air travel."
At a press briefing on Tuesday, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said the president will likely discuss jobs with the top executives of the nation's airlines.
"The President is going to want to talk about economic growth and job creation, how he's enacting orders to make sure the country is safe," Spicer said.
The airlines have asked the new administration to block additional flights from Persian Gulf carriers because of large government subsidies that Emirates, Etihad and Qatar airlines receive. Airline unions have also pressed the government to overturn the December approval of Norwegian Air International which the unions say are skirting labor laws. Both issues are likely to be discussed at Thursday's meeting.
