By Beyza Binnur Donmez
ANKARA (AA) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday said aerospace titan Boeing was a "big disappointment," saying its troubled 737 Max airplane harmed the U.S. economy.
"Very disappointing company," Trump said during an interview with CNBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, when asked about Boeing's new timeline to return the model to the skies.
His remarks came a day after the Chicago-based company announced it did not expect federal regulators to approve its changes to the grounded 737 Max until this summer.
"This is one of the great companies of the world, let's say as of a year ago, and then all of a sudden things happen," Trump said.
Trump emphasized that the problems Boeing faced following the crashes last year of two of its aircraft, leaving 346 people dead and forcing the company to ground an entire fleet, also had a "big impact" on the economy.
"I am so disappointed in Boeing — had a tremendous impact. You know, when you talk about growth, it's so big that some people say it's more than a half a point of GDP," Trump said.
"So Boeing — big, big disappointment to me. Big disappointment," he added.
Boeing's top-selling aircraft model was grounded worldwide after two crashes that cost hundreds of lives and the company billions of dollars.
On March 10, Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET-302 crashed shortly after taking off from an Addis Ababa airport, killing all 157 onboard.
The model was also involved in an October crash outside of Jakarta, Indonesia. All 189 people on board Lion Air Flight JT610 were killed.
