CEOs from US airlines, which are being slammed by coronavirus-related slowdowns, met with Trump to discuss weathering the outbreak

• President Donald Trump met with US airline CEOs on Wednesday to discuss the coronavirus outbreak.
• They discussed what airlines are doing to protect passengers, as well as how the airlines are weathering the significant impact to their businesses as demand for travel continues to plummet.
• Trump said the executives did not ask for a bailout to help them manage the situation.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Chief executives from some of the nation's top airlines met with US President Donald Trump on Wednesday, saying they have stepped up their cleaning and other procedures amid concerns about the coronavirus.

Executives from Southwest Airlines, United Airlines, American Airlines, and JetBlue Airways, among others, attended the meeting at the White House with Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and other top US officials.

Delta CEO Ed Bastian was attending the funeral for his mother, who passed away late last week, and was not able to attend the meeting, a representative for the airline told Business Insider. The airline said it was in touch with the office of Vice President Mike Pence, who is overseeing the federal government's response to the outbreak.

Trump said the airlines would be hit from a fall in overseas travel related to the virus.

"It's affecting the airline business, as it would. And a lot of people are staying in our country and they're shopping and using our hotels in this country, so from that standpoint I think probably there's a positive impact, but there's also an impact on overseas travel which will be fairly substantial," Trump said.

The global airline industry has been badly hit by the coronavirus outbreak, with early optimism that it would recover quickly becoming increasingly tempered.

Bookings have fallen as meetings and conferences around the world have been cancelled, and as major corporations have paused nonessential business travel.

Airlines have reduced their service to affected regions amid falling demand, and have been forced to ground planes and postpone normal operations like recruitment and hiring.

Demand has plummeted across airline networks, not just to destinations where there are currently viral outbreaks, as business and leisure customers become concerned about committing to travel plans without knowing where future outbreaks may occur, or worrying about exposure to infected people in airports and on airplanes.

Airlines around the world - including those in attendance - have begun offering flexible booking policies, waiving change or cancellation fees on new tickets, in an effort to convince potential customers to book without risk.

Trump said the executives had not asked for financial assistance to make up for the hit to their businesses.

The airline executives said the industry was taking measures to intensify aircraft sanitation.

"We've stepped up our efforts to make sure the airplanes are clean and disinfected," said Southwest Airlines Chief Executive Gary Kelly.

"All of us have made a lot of changes to our cleaning procedures, changes to our on board procedures, to gloves, sanitation," said Alaska Air Chief Executive Brad Tilden.

United Airlines Chief Executive Oscar Munoz said his airline had promoted fist bumps as a way of greeting each other to reduce hand-to-hand contacts.

A representative for United previously told Business Insider that the airline is cleaning airplane cabin surfaces after each international flight, using a disinfectant first implemented during the 2014 Ebola outbreak.

American Airlines Chief Executive Doug Parker said American had offered flexibility to passengers who wanted to change their travel plans because of the disease.