President Donald Trump is reportedly unhappy with the wait for the next generation of Boeing 747 jets that are supposed to serve as the primary presidential air transport, officially known as the VC-25B but flying under the name Air Force One when the president is onboard.
The jets currently flying under the Air Force One moniker have been in service since the George H.W. Bush administration in late 1980s. While the new planes were originally supposed to be delivered in 2024, the latest estimates state that they are still years away from completion.
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This could spell trouble for Boeing, which has already been facing production problems, safety issues, delivery delays, and unhappy buyers for six years. With Trump’s latest views, it looks like Boeing faces more risk with its defense division than its commercial business.
Boeing gets 42% of its revenue from U.S. government contracts, according to its most recent filing. In 2022, the aviation giant moved its corporate headquarters from Chicago to the Washington, D.C. suburb of Arlington, Virginia—close to the Pentagon—which indicates the importance Boeing gives to its federal agreements.
Earlier this week, Trump said he was interested in possibly looking to buy used jets elsewhere and refurbishing them. It would be a similar move to one he made early in his first term, after he ordered the U.S. Air Force to re-negotiate the Air Force One contract with Boeing. Boeing has been working on refurbishing two 747 jets that had been originally built for commercial use ever since.
Richard Aboulafia, a managing director at aerospace consulting firm Aerodynamic Advisory, told CNN that the Air Force One delays might be translating into further worries for the company’s larger defense business. While Boeing has been a major supplier of military drones in the past, the Pentagon’s most recent drone contracts went to competitors, with Boeing being conspicuously absent. Boeing, with its reliance on military procurement for its balance sheet, is vulnerable to spending cuts.
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Despite Trump’s talk about finding alternatives to replace the current Air Force One jets, it is easier said than done. The problem is not the basic jet, but what it takes to turn a run-of-the-mill Boeing 747 into the flying communications and command post fit for the President of the United States known as Air Force One, Aboulafia said. “You can have a jet anytime,” he said. “But it takes a great deal of work to have encrypted communications and manage the military and federal government from anywhere around the world in any circumstance,” he noted.
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