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President Donald Trump again expressed his frustration over Boeing’s (BA-1.85%) failure to deliver replacements for Air Force One, which were expected to be handed over to the federal government last year.
“We’re getting a new Air Force One if they can ever finish the damn thing,” Trump said while speaking at a Wednesday event hosted by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. “But we may have to go a different route actually because it’s taking them a long time.”
Earlier, on Tuesday, he said on Fox News that Boeing is “actually in default,” complaining that “we don’t build the way we used to build” and bashing environmental regulations. The New York Times (NYT-1.37%) reports that Trump regards Boeing as a lost cause.
The Air Force has already committed to paying Boeing $3.5 billion of the up to $4,3 billion contract to modify two 747 jumbo jets. Trump was personally involved in negotiating the contract, which was signed in 2018. At the time, he bragged that “Boeing gave us a good deal,” while the aerospace company said it was “proud” to build the jets “at outstanding value to taxpayers.”
But Boeing’s plans have changed and been delayed over the years.
After the 747 production line ended in 2022, the company moved to retrofit two planes it had already built for a different buyer, rather than a custom build. Boeing has also faced a number of issues directly related to the project, such as when the company discovered that some 250 employee’s security credentials lapsed or bottles of tequila were found on one of the jets.
Boeing has said it lost more than $2 billion on building the new Air Force One planes. Former Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun said in 2022 that the contract presented a “very unique set of risks that Boeing probably shouldn’t have taken.”
Trump has directed SpaceX and Tesla (TSLA-5.05%) CEO Elon Musk, who has been given unofficial leadership over the Department of Government Efficiency and immense access to the federal government, to work with Boeing to hasten work on the project. Musk has been involved since at least November, according to The New York Times.
“The president is clearly not happy with the delivery timing — I think he’s made that well known,” Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said Thursday at the Barclays Industrial Select Conference. “Elon Musk is actually helping us a lot in working through the requirements” to help Boeing move faster.
Although Boeing’s executives have indicated they may not be able to deliver the new jets during Trump’s second term, Musk wants at least one of them to be delivered within a year, the Times reported.
Both Musk and Boeing want to remove the top-security clearance requirements for at least some of the workers involved. Musk has also questioned how much time is needed to flight-test the planes and called the designs for the new models over-engineered with unnecessary features, the Times reported, citing people familiar.
“We are making progress, significant progress, in improving the delivery time,” Ortberg said. “I’m all in on trying to pull these airplanes up and get the president his airplanes.”