Business Insider reports:
Boeing’s delivery delays are hurting president-elect Donald Trump’s dreams of flying on a new Air Force One jet. The project to build two new jets is so late that Boeing has told the US Air Force it expects to deliver the planes in 2029 or later, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
In 2018, the planemaker and the Trump administration agreed to pay US$3.9 billion for the planes. Boeing initially expected to deliver the first new 747 in late 2024. Both deliveries have now been pushed to 2029. Trump is frustrated with the delays and has been asking his team about the status of the planes, the Journal reported.
The current Air Force Ones are white and light blue, as has been tradition since the John F. Kennedy administration. In 2019, Trump said the “baby blue doesn’t fit with us” and said he wanted a dark blue, white, and red plane.
Read the full article. Trump wants the new planes painted like his own Trump Force One even though the Pentagon has pointed out that the current pale blue underside makes Air Force One blend in with the sky, rendering it less vulnerable to attacks from ground-fired missiles.
Boeing Delays Mean Trump Won’t Fly on a New Air Force One (via @wsj) https://t.co/kQtVGxVThd
— Jon Ostrower (@jonostrower) December 12, 2024