President Donald Trump toured a Boeing airplane to take a look at new {hardware} and know-how options and spotlight the plane maker’s delay in delivering up to date variations of the Air Power One presidential plane, the White Home stated Saturday.
Trump visited the 13-year-old personal plane parked at Palm Seaside Worldwide Airport.
“President Trump is touring a new Boeing plane to checkout the new hardware/technology,” stated Steven Cheung, the White Home communications director. “This highlights the project’s failure to deliver a new Air Force One on time as promised.”
Air Power One is a modified Boeing 747.
Two exist and the president flies on each of the greater than 30-year-old planes.
Boeing Inc. has the contract to provide up to date variations, however supply has been delayed whereas the plane maker has misplaced billions of {dollars} on the venture.
Supply initially was set for 2024, however has been pushed to a while in 2027 for the primary airplane and in 2028 — Trump’s closing yr in workplace — for the second, in accordance with the U.S. Air Power.
Trump has railed in opposition to the venture’s price and supply delays.
He instructed Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk throughout an internet chat in 2024 on Musk’s X social media platform that he was capable of minimize greater than $1 billion from the venture by enjoying arduous ball with Boeing throughout his first time period in workplace.
“Over a course of about four weeks, by my saying I’m not going to do it, I got the price reduced by $1.6 billion for the exact same plane, other than we had a nicer paint job, if you want to know the truth, but for the exact same plane,” Trump stated.
Musk, a billionaire, helped bankroll Trump’s 2024 marketing campaign and is main a brand new Division of Authorities Effectivity that’s working to shrink the dimensions of presidency by chopping spending, eliminating businesses and slashing the federal workforce. Musk has been criticized for his strategies.
Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg stated final month that Musk is working with the corporate to assist pace supply of the Air Power One replacements.
Trump can also be occupied with altering the colour scheme of Air Power One from gentle blue to a darker blue. An earlier try by Trump to swap the colours was dropped by then-President Joe Biden after a examine concluded that doing so would require further testing and trigger additional delays, including to the associated fee.
