Trump: Qatar Buying 'Large Numbers' Of Boeing Planes

Boeing Co BA is selling “large numbers of commercial planes” to Qatar, U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday.

Trump spoke with reporters while meeting Tuesday at the White House with the Emir of the oil-rich Persian Gulf nation, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani.

Qatar is buying military planes, but also said it would buy commercial jets, though he didn’t elaborate on what type of commercial jets. Qatar’s civilian airline Qatar Airways is state-owned.

“They’re buying tremendous amounts of military equipment, including planes, and they’re buying commercial planes, as you know, very large numbers of commercial planes from Boeing,” Trump said.

The president said Qatar and Boeing would announce a “very large transaction … purchasing a lot of Boeing jets.”

Qatar Airways announced at the Paris Airshow last month that it was buying five new 777F Boeing cargo planes. It wasn’t clear if Trump’s remarks included that purchase or referred to a larger buy.

737 MAX Still Grounded

The announcement comes as Boeing faces intense scrutiny over its 737 Max passenger jet after two crashes, one in Indonesia and one in Ethiopia, that together killed 346 people within the last year.

The airplane is grounded globally; Boeing is working to fix a software problem that was linked to both crashes.

Qatar Airways didn’t operate any 737 MAX aircraft, but sought compensation from Boeing after the grounding because the Qatari airline owns 49% of Air Italy, which had to ground three of the Boeing jets.

Several U.S. airlines are set to report earnings in the coming weeks and are expected to report on how the Boeing groundings, now entering a fifth month, are affecting them.

Price Action

Boeing shares were up 0.54% at $353 at the time of publication Tuesday. 

Related Links:

Analyst: Boeing 737 MAX Still On Path To Take Flight Again In 6-9 Months

Barclays Downgrades Boeing After Survey Shows Long Road To Regaining Passenger Confidence

Photo by Jules Meulemans/Wikimedia.