Trump Berated CEOs Of 'Big Three' Airlines In Private Meeting, Says Report

President Donald Trump reportedly berated the chief executives of the three largest U.S airlines in a showdown meeting about an yearlong stand-off between them and Persian-Gulf based airlines, according to NBC news.

The CEOs of the Big Three -- American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines -- met with the President, in hopes of getting a positive outcome but ended up being on the wrong side as Trump berated them in the meeting.

During the yelling session, the President asked America Airlines CEO Doug Parker why the airline’s stock price had fallen despite a surging market.

Trump also reportedly reprimanded Delta airlines, whose CEO Ed Bastian was not present, for buying aircraft worth billions from European firm Airbus and pointed out that Qatar Airways -- one of the companies the U.S. airlines have a beef with -- was buying its jets from Boeing.

NBC news quoted a person who had attended the meeting: “The President kept going back to it [Bastian's absence], there was a lot of yelling.”

Based on unnamed sources in the Trump administration, NBC reported that the hour-long session was also attended by acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, Sen. James Risch (R-Idaho), White House Press Secretary Shephanie Grisham, National Security Adviser John Bolton, National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow and Trade Adviser Peter Navarro.

For almost a year, the Big Three carriers have been in a tussle with Qatar Airways, Etihad and Emirates, claiming that the Gulf-based airlines were undercutting them by offering below-market fares, aided by government subsidies. They also pointed to Air Italy’s addition of new flights between Milan and the U.S. after Qatar Airways bought a 49 percent stake in it.

They CEOs had presumed that the President would their side in the dispute. They caught Trump’s attention when a lobby group representing the Big Three aired ads on Fox news.

“I’ve been seeing all these ads — what’s up with these ads?” the President asked, according to two people in the room, NBC News said.

Qatar Airways CEO Al Baker, based in Doha, was invited to join the FedEx, JetBlue and Atlas Air CEOs to duke it out in the Oval Office with the Big Three. The meeting quickly turned into a confrontation, with Al Baker calling the American CEOs 'liars' and President Trump hitting back, saying Baker got his money from the Qatari government.

As the meeting wrapped up, Trump told the airlines that if they wanted to plead their case, the Transportation Deportation was the place to do it. The airlines have maintained that despite the President not siding with them, they would continue the fight.

While Trump was expected to tilt toward the big U.S airlines, the Qataris presented a strong jobs and economy argument, based on their purchase of five 777 jets from Boeing, worth $1.8 billion at list prices, along with GE engines, the report said.

International Business Times could not independently verify the contents of this report.

The reported outcome of the meeting also came as a blow to Navarro, known for his staunch protectionist views.