Trump tours a Boeing plane to spotlight delay on getting new Air Force One

Trump tours a Boeing plane to spotlight delay on getting new Air Force One


The motorcade of U.S. President Donald Trump is parked next to a 12-year-old Boeing 747-8 that Trump was touring in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Feb. 15, 2025.

Kevin Lamarque | Reuters

President Donald Trump toured a Boeing plane on Saturday to highlight delays in delivering new Air Force One aircraft, said the White House.

The president negotiated with Boeing for a pair of new 747-8 aircraft during his first administration – between 2017 and 2021 – but the planes are now years behind schedule.

The two aircraft were expected to be delivered in December 2024 but Boeing has pushed the arrival until at least 2027 or 2028 — towards the end of Trump’s second term in office.

“President Trump is touring a new Boeing plane to check out the new hardware/technology,” White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said. “This highlights the project’s failure to deliver a new Air Force One on time as promised.”

The aircraft the president visited at the Palm Beach International Airport is a 12-year-old plane formerly owned by Qatar’s royal family and is now operated by a company in the Isle of Man, according to two aviation websites.

It was not immediately clear if Trump’s Saturday plane tour was coordinated with Boeing.

Boeing had no immediate comment on Trump’s visit and referred questions on delays in the Air Force One program to the Air Force.

Last month, Boeing’s CEO Kelly Ortberg said the company was meeting with Trump’s ally Elon Musk — despite Musk’s SpaceX competing with the Boeing space division — to get the plane updated quicker.

“The president wants those planes sooner so we’re working with Elon to see what can we do to pull up the schedule of those programs,” Ortberg told CNBC on Jan. 28.

Boeing leaders have said that production has been slowed by supply chain issues, high costs and the complexity of the planes that are intended to be an airborne White House.

In 2016, Trump called out the high price tag for new Air Force One aircraft and demanded that the then-Boeing CEO agree to a contract of no more than $4 billion for the two planes.

Since then, Boeing’s leadership has said the contract was priced too low for the planes equipped with military avionics, advanced communications, and a self-defense system to withstand worst-case security scenarios.

Trump also proposed changing the look of the new Air Force One planes to incorporate a dark red color, but former President Joe Biden tweaked those plans back to resemble the current light blue model.

However, the miniature Air Force One model atop Trump’s Inauguration Day cake on Jan. 20 featured the president’s preferred red-line design.



Source

Trump presses Powell for a full-point interest rate cut despite strong jobs report
Politics

Trump presses Powell for a full-point interest rate cut despite strong jobs report

US President Donald Trump during a meeting with Chancellor of Germany Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office of the White House on Thursday June 5, 2025. Demetrius Freeman | The Washington Post | Getty Images President Donald Trump on Friday urged Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to slash interest rates by a full percentage point, […]

Read More
Trump ‘not interested’ in call with Musk, White House official says
Politics

Trump ‘not interested’ in call with Musk, White House official says

Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks alongside U.S. President Donald Trump to reporters in the Oval Office of the White House on May 30, 2025 in Washington, DC. Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images President Donald Trump is “not interested” in a call with Tesla CEO Elon Musk to resolve their feud, a senior White House official […]

Read More
Musk vs. Trump drama dominated in DC, but Germany’s Merz quietly walked away with a win
Politics

Musk vs. Trump drama dominated in DC, but Germany’s Merz quietly walked away with a win

President Donald Trump gestures toward the press as he greets German Chancellor Friedrich Merz upon arrival at the West Wing of the White House in Washington, DC, on June 5, 2025. Saul Loeb | Afp | Getty Images German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump was dramatically overshadowed by the U.S. leader’s […]

Read More