Boeing CEO David Calhoun may turn down financial aid from the federal government if the Treasury Department demands a stake in the company in exchange.
Calhoun appeared Sunday on Fox Business to express disappointment with some reports of what a possible financial relief bill would entail. He said Boeing would look at other options to carry the airplane manufacturer through the pandemic if accepting aid from the United States meant turning over some control of the company to the federal government.
When asked, the Boeing CEO told host Maria Bartiromo that he was not “comfortable” with the government taking an equity stake in Boeing in return for financial aid.
“All we want is to make sure the credit markets are open for business so we can continue to work toward that recovery,” Calhoun said. “If they force it, we just look at all the other options, and we’ve got plenty of them.”
Boeing has requested $60 billion in federal loans from Congress to carry it through the pandemic that the company has pledged to pay back once the market for air travel and airplanes has recovered.
Boeing ran into trouble last year after governments started grounding Boeing’s 737 Max airplane after the model’s anti-stalling system was blamed for two deadly accidents. Trump grounded the plane in the U.S. in December.
