Trump checks out Boeing plane hardware, complains of new Air Force One delay

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Trump toured a Boeing airplane to check out new hardware and technology features and highlight the aircraft maker’s delay in delivering updated versions of the Air Force One presidential aircraft, the White House said Saturday.

Trump visited the 13-year-old private aircraft parked at Palm Beach International Airport.

“President Trump is touring a new Boeing plane to checkout the new hardware/technology,” said Steven Cheung, the White House communications director. “This highlights the project’s failure to deliver a new Air Force One on time as promised.”

Air Force One is a modified Boeing 747. Two exist and the president flies on both of the more than 30-year-old planes. Boeing Inc. has the contract to produce updated versions, but delivery has been delayed while the aircraft maker has lost billions of dollars on the project.

Delivery initially was set for 2024, but has been pushed to 2027 for the first plane and 2028 — Trump’s final year in office — for the second, according to the U.S. Air Force.

Trump has railed against the project’s cost and delivery delays. He told Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk during an online chat in 2024 that he was able to cut more than $1 billion from the project by playing hard ball with Boeing during his first term.

“Over a course of about four weeks, by my saying I’m not going to do it, I got the price reduced by $1.6 billion for the exact same plane, other than we had a nicer paint job, if you want to know the truth, but for the exact same plane,” Trump said.

Musk, a South African-born billionaire, helped bankroll Trump’s 2024 campaign and is leading a team shrinking the federal workforce. Musk has been criticized for his methods.

Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said last month that Musk is working with the company to help speed delivery of the Air Force One replacements.

Trump is also interested in changing the color scheme of Air Force One from light blue to a darker blue. An earlier attempt by Trump to switch the colors was dropped by then-President Biden after a study concluded that doing so would require additional testing and cause further delays, adding to the cost.

Superville writes for the Associated Press.