New Air Force One delivery could be 17 months behind schedule
The delivery of the first new Air Force One plane, the aircraft that transports the president of the United States, could now be 17 months later than originally planned, Boeing is projecting.
The 17-month delay projection has not been accepted by the Air Force and could change as the military negotiates with Boeing on a new schedule. The original delivery timeframe of December 2024 had already been sliding.
"We continue to work closely with the Air Force on a new approved schedule baseline," a Boeing spokesperson told CBS News.
Breaking Defense first reported the projected delay. The COVID-19 pandemic and supply chain issues have been blamed for part of the delay.
"Boeing has provided the Department of the Air Force a recommended update to the VC – 25B schedule, but we have not yet agreed on the length of the delay," an Air Force spokesperson said. "The program team is analyzing the schedule before taking any formal contractual or program actions."
The Trump administration reached an informal deal with Boeing to provide the next generation of presidential aircraft in 2018 for a fixed price of $3.9 billion. The informal agreement followed years of negotiations between Boeing and the Air Force, and involved Donald Trump's personal intervention.
The current fleet is made up of two specially-modified Boeing 747s, first used by President George H. W. Bush in 1990. The two planes have carried every president since then.
— CBS News' Kathryn Krupnik and Eleanor Watson contributed to this report.