After Boeing Delays, Trump Is Getting a Secondhand Plane for Air Force One

Since his first administration, Donald Trump has obsessed over replacing Air Force One. However, delays with the contracted Boeing have pushed delivery back by another decade. Now, Trump’s impatience is showing as he’s commissioned an interim plane from another contractor on top of the existing multi-billion contract with Boeing. In 2018, Trump commissioned Boeing, which has supplied presidential planes since Roosevelt, to replace Air Force One for $3.9 billion. Currently, a thirty-five-year-old duo of modified Boeing 747-200s (or VC-25A) make up Air Force One. Boeing failed to meet its original Dec. 2024 deadline for the first aircraft due to delays caused by supply and design issues, workforce complications, and more. The Wall Street Journal reported that Boeing told federal officials around election time that they couldn’t deliver until about 2035. So, Trump took matters into his own hands. According to the outlet, Trump has commissioned L3Harris, a Florida-based defense contracto ... Read full article.