President Donald Trump is keeping his options for presidential aircraft open as Boeing’s delivery of two new Air Force One airplanes runs at least three years behind schedule.
During remarks to reporters onboard Air Force One on Wednesday, Trump said he was “not happy” that Boeing was facing steep delays and suggested he might convert a used aircraft to become his presidential airplane or look overseas for other alternatives.
“I’m not happy with Boeing,” Trump said. “It takes them a long time to do, you know, Air Force One. We gave that contract out a long time ago as a fixed-price contract, and I’m not happy with the fact that it’s taking so long, and we may do something else.”
The president ruled out acquiring a plane from Boeing’s rival, Airbus, as he floated other options for aerial travel.
“I could buy one that was used and convert it,” Trump said. “I could buy one from another country, perhaps, or get one from another country. So we’re looking at other alternatives because it’s taking Boeing too long.”
Last Saturday, Trump toured a relatively new Boeing luxury airplane to check out new hardware and technology features and highlight Boeing’s “failure to deliver a new Air Force One on time as promised.”
Following the president’s tour, the New York Times reported that the Trump administration was discussing whether the Boeing luxury plane, a private aircraft once owned by the Qatari royal family, might be acquired and refitted for use during the wait for Boeing to finish the Air Force Ones.
Trump kept details about his plans vague on Wednesday.
“We may go and buy a plane or get a plane or something, but I’m not happy with the fact that it’s taking Boeing so long,” he said. “There’s no excuse for it.”
Boeing is working to replace two Air Force Ones that are over 30 years old with updated aircraft for the president’s personal use.
In 2018, Trump negotiated a contract with Boeing in which the White House agreed to pay the aerospace company a fixed price of $3.9 billion for the planes.
Although the delivery was originally set for 2024, Air Force officials said delays and high costs have forced the project to push the anticipated date to at least 2027 for the first plane and 2028 for the second.
Under the terms of the fixed-price contract, Boeing has absorbed losses amounting to at least $2.4 billion on the two jets, as costs have ballooned to around $5.3 billion, according to Simple Flying.
Top Boeing officials have expressed regret over taking on the project, with former CEO David Calhoun saying it is “a very unique set of risks that Boeing probably shouldn’t have taken.”
Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said last month that Elon Musk is working with the company to accelerate the delivery of the Air Force One replacements. Musk, who is leading Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, has insisted that at least one of the planes can be delivered within a year’s time, per the New York Times.
“The president wants the airplane sooner, and so we’re working with Elon and the team to figure what can we do to pull up the schedule of that aircraft,” Ortberg said.
During an interview alongside Musk on Tuesday, Trump blamed excessive bureaucratic regulations for dragging out construction of his new aircraft.
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“We don’t build the way we used to build,” the president said. “You know, we used to build, like, a ship a day, and now to build a ship is, like, a big deal. … We could do it, but so many things — it takes so long to get things built and get things done. And a lot of it could be something we’ve been discussing. The regulators go in and they make it impossible to build. They make it very difficult to build anything, whether it’s a ship, a plane, or a building or anything.
“They’re actually in default, Boeing. … They’ve been building this thing forever. I don’t know what’s going on.”