VC-25B Bargain a Bearable but Bothersome Bugbear for Boeing Beancounters

In a not-too-surprising turn, the next-gen presidential aircraft won't be taking off under its original schedule, adding about a year to its ultimate delivery timeline.

Originally, the program had been slated to deliver the first jet in 2024, a timeline that has slipped time and time again as a confluence of economics, logistics, labor, and Boeing issues have put external pressures on an already costly custom aircraft project. Now, the US Air Force expects that things will be pushed back another 16 months - and there isn't much reason to believe that timeline will be unchangeable. Under current plans, that would put the first new Air Force One's flight on the calendar for March 2026. Recently, the first plane was slated to undergo power-on ground tests, but delays there have pushed that to July of 2025. The original contract timeline went out the window with a full reschedule in 2022, which had expected to draw the program out by about 3 years. Boeing's revised timeline had put the first jet's delivery in September 2026, with a year of wiggle room on top of it. The second would have followed about a year later, in early spring 2027. Boeing has apparently learned from its goal setting before, leaving things nebulous as to when they expect the first delivery can be made. Extrapolating from their other dates, the new 16-month delay would put the new aircraft into service in the spring of 2028, if everything goes okay in the program from here on out (an unlikely bet, given past performance).

The program to replace Air Force One has been in the works for some time, with all the cost overruns and developmental delays one would expect from a bespoke military aircraft. Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun has said before the aircraft wasn't too popular with their beacounters, being a fixed-price program. Since its inception, Boeing's lost about $2 billion on the new Air Force One, which is pretty impressive to hear when thinking back to the headlines when the contract was announced. Originally, Boeing was contracted to deliver a pair of 747-8s for $3.9 billion, a deal finalized by President Trump in 2018 after a few years of his public dissatisfaction with spiraling cost overruns. The deal has been a real thorn for Boeing, secured between the 46th president and former Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg. Current chief Calhoun later said that it was the result of "a very unique moment, a very unique negotiation, a very unique set of risks that Boeing probably shouldn't have taken."

The Air Force has said it will update the program timeline later this summer, but until the calendar's made, everyone involved may just be content to keep things in the air until the first plane is ready to fly.

FMI: www.boeing.com