President Trump called Boeing’s chief executive on Sunday to discuss the company’s plans to halt production of the 737 Max, according to three people with knowledge of the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk about a private call.
Mr. Trump told the executive,
Dennis A. Muilenburg, that he had heard that Boeing was planning to permanently shut down the Max production line, according to two of the people. Mr. Muilenburg assured the president that any pause to production would be temporary, and that there would be no layoffs as a result of the move, they said.
A day later, Boeing announced it was
temporarily halting production of the 737 Max, which has been grounded for nine months after two crashes that killed 346 people.
On the call, which lasted five to 10 minutes, Mr. Trump expressed concern about the health of the company more broadly, and asked whether Mr. Muilenburg was doing O.K., the two people said.Mr. Trump also asked about the status of the fix for software that Boeing developed for the Max and which was found to have played a role in both crashes.
Mr. Muilenburg said that the company had a fix ready, but that American and international regulators still had to test it and approve it.
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