- Boeing and the U.S. Air Force are facing further delays to the multi-billion-dollar Air Force One program.
- The first flight of the new Boeing 747-8i has been delayed by 16 months to March 2026.
- It’s another delay and has already cost Boeing more than $2 billion in cost overruns.
Boeing and the Trump administration signed a $3.9 billion contract in 2018 to replace the president’s aging 747 jets with two new Air Force One planes. The program is already years behind schedule and further delays are now expected.
The first flight of the next-generation Boeing 747-8i, which is set to replace the older 747-200B that first entered service in the early 1990s, has been delayed by 16 months from November this year to March 2026, an Air Force spokesman told military website Breaking Defense.
A spokesman said Boeing is developing a revised schedule for later this summer and “there may be changes to the dates presented.” At this time, it is unclear when deliveries will occur.
Boeing had originally planned to take delivery of the first of the new 747s in late 2024. But a combination of labor shortages, supplier bankruptcies and quality issues has forced Boeing to push back the first delivery to September 2026 at the earliest, and the second delivery to February 2027.
At the time, the Air Force had a one-year grace period for deliveries of these aircraft, with the second delivery delayed until 2028. This means that the final deliveries of the new VIP fleet will be delayed by at least three to four years, and the latest delay announcement could delay it even further.
According to Breaking Defense, the delay is due to ongoing issues with testing the ground subsystem that “powers up” the aircraft, and was originally scheduled for May 2024 but has now been pushed back to July 2025.
The Air Force did not respond to Business Insider’s request for comment. Boeing declined to comment and referred BI inquiries to the Air Force.
Once finally operational as the presidential aircraft, the new VIP fleet will consist of larger, more fuel-efficient 747-8i aircraft that were originally slated for delivery to now-defunct Russian airline Transaero 2013 but were never delivered.
But continuing problems with the program have kept the older 747s flying behind schedule, and in 2022, The Wall Street Journal reported that keeping the old fleet flying could cost taxpayers $390 million.
The glitches have already cost Boeing more than $2 billion, with the total cost of the project estimated at about $5.3 billion.
Boeing’s financial burden stems from a fixed-price agreement it struck with the Trump administration that required the company to cover all cost overruns.
Boeing Chief Executive Officer Dave Calhoun said in a 2022 investor call that the deal posed “a very unique set of risks that Boeing probably shouldn’t have taken,” but that the company remained committed to delivering the aircraft.
Current Fleet Issues
The call sign “Air Force One” applies to any aircraft that carries the president, but it is most directly associated with a specially modified 747 known as the VC-25. This aircraft differs from a standard 747 in that it has a number of extra features, from electronics and communications equipment to an executive suite.
The new 747-8i-based VC-25B program will replace the Air Force’s current VC-25A fleet. According to a Defense Department report, these aging aircraft are “more than 30 years old and face capability gaps, rising maintenance costs, and aging parts.”
“The Boeing 747-8 aircraft will be uniquely modified to provide safe and reliable air transportation for the President, his staff and guests with the same level of communications and security as the White House,” the report said.
The modifications would include “power upgrades, dual auxiliary power units for in-flight use, a mission communications system, an executive interior, military avionics, self-protection systems, autonomous boarding and disembarking, and autonomous baggage loading,” the report added.
The VC-25B fleet will have longer range, cruise speed and maximum takeoff weight than its predecessor.
