On February 17, local time, senior U.S. government officials said that Boeing’s “Air Force One” project may be delayed until2029 or a few years later, citing supply chain issues and changing requirements. The official said Boeing has had problems getting parts as some manufacturers have gone bankrupt.

Trump officially took office as President of the United States on January 20, 2025, beginning his second presidential term. He is expected to leave office on January 20, 2029. After the delivery of the upgraded version of Boeing's "Air Force One" is extended, Trump may not be able to wait until the end of this presidential term.

Boeing has previously stated many times that it would delay delivery. Media reports said the delivery delays were attributed to supply chain issues, high costs and the plane's complex design.

Trump criticizes Boeing for long delays in delivering special planes


U.S. President Donald Trump recently criticized Boeing again because a new presidential plane project approved during his first term has not yet been completed.

The Associated Press reported on February 15, citing a White House official, that Trump was "inspecting new hardware equipment and technology on a new Boeing aircraft" at Palm Beach International Airport in Florida. The inspection "highlighted the failure of the new Air Force One to be delivered on time as promised."

Projects riddled with problems have been repeatedly delayed


In 2015, the U.S. Air Force selected the Boeing 747-8 as the new model of the presidential plane, which will replace the two "Air Force One" modified from the Boeing 747-200 that was launched in 1990. After Trump was first elected in 2016, he criticized Boeing's asking price for this modification project, which exceeded $4 billion, as "outrageous" and threatened to cancel the order. After Trump himself "bargained" personally, Boeing won a contract worth US$3.9 billion in 2018 to transform two passenger planes originally manufactured for a Russian airline as the new special plane of the US president.

Trump had hoped that the new special plane would be delivered in 2021 and requested changes to the traditional blue and white paint of Air Force One, including adding red to the fuselage.

Trump lost his re-election bid to Joseph Biden in the 2020 election, and the latter restored the new special plane's paint scheme to traditional colors in 2023.


The new special plane was originally scheduled to be delivered in 2024. However, due to staff shortages, design, manufacturing and supply chain issues, and even the impact of Trump's request for new paint, the project has been delayed. Before US officials said that delivery may be postponed to 2029, the delivery time of the new "Air Force One" aircraft has been delayed to 2027 at the latest for the first aircraft, and the second aircraft for 2028 at the latest.