Donald Trump has harshly criticized Boeing’s decision to launch the 737 MAX program, saying that the company should have re-engined the 757 instead.
In a post published to his social media network Truth Social, Trump said that he told the manufacturer, which he referred to as “bad maintenance Boeing”, not to “lengthen the unattractive, fat, and slow 737 to get a larger plane,” according to a report by Newsweek. Instead, the former United States President said the manufacturer should have updated the “fast, beautiful, and sleek 757”, referring to it as the “Praying Mantis”.
“Had they listened to me, years ago, they wouldn’t have had the disaster known as the 737 MAX,” Trump continued, adding that the two fatal crashes would not have happened. “As they say, ‘Trump was right about everything.’”
His comments followed criticism of the Lockheed Martin F-35 for having a single engine, meaning it has no redundancy, after its pilot ejected from the aircraft in South Carolina, the US on September 17, 2023. At the time, the United States Air Force (USAF) even asked the public to help locate the fighter jet, which was eventually found in Williamsburg County, South Carolina, the US.
Trump owns a Boeing 757-200, registered as N757AF. The aircraft was last spotted in the air on September 20, 2023, when the single-aisle jet departed Palm Beach International Airport (PBI), Florida, the US, and arrived at Quad Cities International Airport (MLI), Illinois, the US. It left MLI the same day, ADS-B Exchange data showed.
This is not the first time that Trump has weighed in on the 737 MAX. In April 2019, several weeks after the type’s second fatal crash in Ethiopia in March 2019, the then-US President tweeted that if he were Boeing, “I would FIX the Boeing 737 MAX, add some additional great features, & REBRAND the plane with a new name”.
“No product has suffered like this one. But again, what the hell do I know?” Trump concluded at the time.