American Airlines CEO Robert Isom met Wednesday with President Donald Trump and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy in the Oval Office. 

The meeting came two weeks after the Jan. 29 collision of an American Eagle regional plane with an Army helicopter near Reagan National Airport in Washington, which killed all 67 people on the two aircraft.

According to a statement from American, the three men discussed ways to make investments in a state-of-the-art air traffic system to enhance aviation safety. 

The National Transportation Safety Board has yet to release preliminary findings on what caused the Jan. 29 crash. The NTSB has revealed that the Reagan National air traffic control tower showed the helicopter as being above its flight ceiling of 200 feet. 

In a Feb. 6 speech, Trump blamed the accident on “obsolete” air traffic control technology and committed to building a new system for control towers. The president also previously blamed the crash on DEI initiatives at the FAA and DOT. 

“The American Airlines team will continue to work together with President Trump, Secretary Duffy, Congress and the entire aviation industry to make our systems even safer,” American said in its statement about the meeting.  

Since 2007, the FAA has been implementing an air traffic modernization program called NextGen that has cost close to $20 billion, according to a 2024 report by the Office of the Inspector General for the DOT.

Though widely critiqued for its slow implementation, major components of the project are supposed to be completed this year, with deployment to continue through 2030. However, the OIG report found that NextGen “will be less transformational than originally promised.”

A September 2024 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office detailed 58 unsustainable or potentially unsustainable FAA systems that have “critical operational impacts on the safety and efficiency of the national airspace.”

Duffy announced on X on Feb. 5 that Elon Musk’s controversial Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is going to “plug in to help upgrade our aviation system.” 

American said that during the Wednesday meeting Trump again expressed condolences to the families of those who died on American Flight 5342.  

“The airline remains focused on caring for the families and loved ones of those who were on the flight,” reads the statement.