Elon Musk is trying to help Boeing out with its much-delayed new Air Force One for Trump
Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg says Elon Musk is helping speed up the arrival of the Next Air Force One.
The planemaker has lost more than $2 billion producing the long-delayed presidential aircraft.
President Donald Trump "wants the airplane sooner," Ortberg told CNBC.
Elon Musk is helping Boeing speed up production of the Next Air Force One, the planemaker's CEO told CNBC.
Also known as the VC-25B, costs and delays have snowballed since Boeing was tapped in 2015 to build a new presidential aircraft.
It was initially set to be delivered in 2024, but the timeframe has been pushed back to at least 2027. Boeing has reported losses of more than $2 billion on the program.
"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," Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg told CNBC.
He added that discussions had been constructive and praised the Department of Government Efficiency.
"They sincerely are looking at things in the contract or in the process that are slowing us down that are not providing value," Ortberg said.
"We're engaging with the DOGE team to see if we can't find that right mix of requirements that need to come out and get out of our way so we can be more efficient and deliver a better product," he added.
Boeing is building a brand new 747 Air Force One for future presidents, but costs are out of control, more than $4 billion. Cancel order!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 6, 2016
During President Donald Trump's first term, he renegotiated the terms — threatening to cancel the program if it exceeded $4 billion.
To cut costs, Boeing agreed in 2018 to use two jets originally destined for a Russian airline that went bankrupt.
In 2022, The Wall Street Journal reported that production problems included one Boeing employee not being properly credentialed to oversee the work and another failing a routine drug test.
Mini bottles of tequila were also found on board one of the future presidential jets, the Journal reported.
At his inaugural ball earlier this month, Trump signaled his appetite for the new presidential jet by cutting a cake adorned with the VC-25B.
Notably, the model had a red, white, and blue design — unlike the light blue used for every presidential jet since the Kennedy era.
In 2019, Trump showed ABC a similar plane design. "I'm doing that for other presidents, not for me," he added.
However, this color scheme was found to cause further delays. The Air Force said a thermal study found that the dark blue would necessitate additional tests because of added heat in some environments.
So in 2023, then-President Joe Biden chose a light-blue livery, in line with the current and previous Air Force Ones — but it seems like Trump would prefer his original design.
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