Trump Airlines & Other Business Flops Making The Rounds After President’s Advice To Boeing
Donald Trump on Monday provided some unsolicited business advice to Boeing, and Twitter users quickly reminded him that he may not be the best person to look to for business advice. In fact, Trump has a particularly disappointing track record when it comes to airlines, but air travel is not the only area where one of his business ventures failed.
In a Monday tweet, Trump offered his advice to aircraft manufacturer Boeing in the wake of well-publicized problems with some of its aircraft, which in at least one case led to a fatal crash.
“What do I know about branding, maybe nothing (but I did become President!), but if I 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?”
With that in mind, here’s a look at some of Trump’s less successful business ventures.
Trump Airlines
Between 1989 and 1992, East Coast commuters had the option of taking a Trump-branded shuttlecraft between New York City’s LaGuardia Airport and Boston or Washington.
However, the shuttle service was done in by bad timing, among other things. Not long after Trump entered the business, the U.S. went into recession and fuel prices skyrocketed, thanks in part to the Iraq War. The company folded for good in 1992, with Trump still owing between $25 and $35 million to his backers, as Business Insider reports.
Trump Casinos
For a while in the mid-1990s, casinos across Atlantic City bore Trump’s branding. There was the Trump Taj-Mahal, the Trump World’s Fair, and the Trump Marina, as well as Trump-branded casinos outside of New Jersey.
Again, bad timing sunk much of the operation, thanks to a recession as well as the bad business decision to fund the projects through junk bonds, as The New York Times reports. Trump Hotel & Casino Resorts filed for bankruptcy in 2004, 2009, and 2014, and to this day, the company owns only one property, the Trump Plaza Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City, which currently sits shuttered and vacant.
8/ Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino was fined because managers would remove African-American card dealers at the request of a certain gamblers pic.twitter.com/P62SKJPGvi
— Noema Magazine (@NoemaMag) August 15, 2017
Trump Steaks
For two months in 2007, Donald Trump attempted to sell steaks through gadget retailer The Sharper Image. However, the staggeringly-high price tag ($199 for the least-expensive option) and the fact that few people wanted to buy meat at a gadget store shuttered the project almost as soon as it was begun.
Trump University
Between 2005 and 2010, the Trump Organization ran a for-profit educational company that purported to teach students business and wealth-building skills. However, the classes were actually brief seminars, for which the students were allegedly placed under high-pressure sales tactics to sign up, and they offered no college credit.
The university was the subject of multiple lawsuits, and as The Guardian reports, Trump ultimately settled for $25 million.
Other Failures
This businesses highlighted above are only a representative sample of the business failings of the Trump brand. As pointed out in a tweet by Roger Mansfield, there has also been Trump Magazine, Trump Mortgage, and Trump Vodka, all of which have failed.
