The motorcade of U.S. President Donald Trump is parked subsequent to a 12-year-old Boeing 747-8 that Trump was touring in West Palm Seashore, Florida, on Feb. 15, 2025.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
President Donald Trump toured a Boeing aircraft on Saturday to focus on delays in delivering new Air Power One plane, mentioned the White Home.
The president negotiated with Boeing for a pair of recent 747-8 plane throughout his first administration – between 2017 and 2021 – however the planes are actually years delayed.
The 2 plane had been anticipated to be delivered in December 2024 however Boeing has pushed the arrival till a minimum of 2027 or 2028 — in direction of the top of Trump’s second time period in workplace.
“President Trump is touring a brand new Boeing aircraft to take a look at the brand new {hardware}/expertise,” White Home Communications Director Steven Cheung mentioned. “This highlights the challenge’s failure to ship a brand new Air Power One on time as promised.”
The plane the president visited on the Palm Seashore Worldwide Airport is a 12-year-old aircraft previously owned by Qatar’s royal household and is now operated by an organization within the Isle of Man, in response to two aviation web sites.
It was not instantly clear if Trump’s Saturday aircraft tour was coordinated with Boeing.
Boeing had no quick touch upon Trump’s go to and referred questions on delays within the Air Power One program to the Air Power.
Final month, Boeing’s CEO Kelly Ortberg mentioned the corporate was assembly with Trump’s ally Elon Musk — regardless of Musk’s SpaceX competing with the Boeing area division — to get the aircraft up to date faster.
“The president needs these planes sooner so we’re working with Elon to see what can we do to tug up the schedule of these packages,” Ortberg advised CNBC on Jan. 28.
Boeing leaders have mentioned that manufacturing has been slowed by provide chain points, excessive prices and the complexity of the planes which might be supposed to be an airborne White Home.
In 2016, Trump known as out the excessive price ticket for brand new Air Power One plane and demanded that the then-Boeing CEO conform to a contract of not more than $4 billion for the 2 planes.
Since then, Boeing’s management has mentioned the contract was priced too low for the planes geared up with navy avionics, superior communications, and a self-defense system to resist worst-case safety situations.
Trump additionally proposed altering the look of the brand new Air Power One planes to include a darkish pink colour, however former President Joe Biden tweaked these plans again to resemble the present mild blue mannequin.
Nevertheless, the miniature Air Power One mannequin atop Trump’s Inauguration Day cake on Jan. 20 featured the president’s most popular red-line design.
