First of Two VC-25Bs Now Expected to Enter Service in Mid-2028

The long-running replacement of Air Force One has added another year to its official timeline, with the US Air Force expecting the first of two VC-25B presidential aircraft to enter service in mid-2028. This pushes delivery even further past the original December 2024 target.

The updated date was confirmed by Air Force officials following continued discussions with Boeing, which is responsible for modifying two of its 747-8 aircraft into the next generation of presidential planes. Luckily, they can’t take too much heat for the most recent delay: though the new projection is later than the 2027 estimate floated earlier this year, it is marginally better than the more loosely given “2028 or 2029” window shared in May.

The program isn’t just getting more time, it’s also getting more money. Back-to-back with the schedule update, the Air Force disclosed an additional $15.5 million contract modification to upgrade the aircraft’s communications systems. The service says that the added funding is typical project evolution rather than rework, and the communications integration is expected to be completed by late 2026 without pushing the revised delivery date any further.

The VC-25B program has been dogged by delays almost from the start. Boeing was awarded the roughly $4 billion contract in 2016 to replace the two VC-25As that have been flying US presidents since 1990. The plan later shifted to converting two partially completed 747-8s originally built for a now-defunct Russian airline, hoping to control costs but instead introducing its own complications.

Production formally began in 2020 and immediately stumbled on labor shortages, supply-chain disruptions, and the challenge of integrating highly specialized systems into a commercial airframe. Delivery targets have steadily slipped from 2024 to 2026, then to 2027, and now to mid-2028. The total program cost has climbed past $4.3 billion, even under a ‘firm’ fixed-price structure.

Political pressure has not eased. President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized the delays and, earlier this year, accepted a Qatari-owned Boeing 747 to be converted as an interim Air Force One solution. The Air Force estimates that retrofit will cost a light $400 million and take about a year using mostly funding reallocations from other defense programs.

FMI: www.af.mil