President-elect Donald Trump is reported to be frustrated by delays to the new Air Force One, which means he likely won’t be able to fly on a new jet during his second term.
Boeing has reportedly told the Air Force that the new planes won’t be ready until after Trump leaves the White House, the Wall Street Journal reports.
It was previously reported that the two new planes were due to be delivered in 2026 and 2027. But the jets won’t be ready until 2029 or possibly even later, according to the Journal, which quoted sources familiar with the plans.
“We take pride in this work. Our focus is on delivering two exceptional Air Force One airplanes for the country,” Boeing said in a statement to the paper.
The schedule for the project is due to be updated in the spring, a spokeswoman for Air Force told the outlet.
The Independent has contacted Trump’s campaign for comment.
Boeing signed a $3.9 billion contract in 2018 to replace the 747-8s planes with 747-200B, a model that has been flying since the 1990s.
The contract was negotiated by Trump, who bragged about getting the cost down from $4.2 billion, during his first term.
Trump reportedly wants to change the famed plane’s colors to red, white and dark blue, resembling his current private Boeing 757.
“The model was on the coffee table in the Oval Office and he pointed it out many times to foreign and domestic visitors,” an aide previously told Politico. “He thought it represented America more and represented strength, the red, white and blue.”
Dave Calhoun, Boeing’s CEO, previously told investors that company executives should never have agreed to the government’s terms for the Air Force One deal. According to Politico, the company had agreed to a fixed-price contract, meaning that all changes made to the airplane would come out of Boeing’s pocket.
The project is currently $2 billion over budget, in part due to problems stemming from when a subcontractor who was hired to furnish the cabin interior went bankrupt and forced the company to switch suppliers. Boeing has also dealt with labor shortages and a lack of employees with clearances to work on the planes.
