Trump seeks alternative for presidential plane amidst decade-long delay in Boeing order

Frustrated by ongoing delays in Boeing’s work to deliver the next generation of presidential planes, US President Donald Trump has commissioned a smaller defence contractor to prepare an interim presidential aircraft by the end of the year.

Trump has tasked the defence firm L3Harris, a contractor to Boeing working on communications systems for the presidential Air Force Ones, with upgrading a Boeing 747 that previously belonged to the Qatari government, The Wall Street Journal writes. 

According to the sources, the plane will be retrofitted with specialized security and communications systems to serve as a temporary “Air Force One.”

Trump aims to have the aircraft available for use as early as this fall and has been actively tracking its progress. On April 18, Boeing’s CEO reportedly met with Trump in the Oval Office to discuss the status of the ongoing Air Force One project.

Meanwhile, Boeing will continue working on the replacement of two aging presidential aircraft with new, highly sophisticated planes designed to function as airborne command and control centers. They had been commissioned under Trump's first term, a $3.9 billion contract and was initially expected to deliver the jets by last year. However, the project has fallen years behind schedule and exceeded its budget by billions due to a combination of supplier delays, engineering and manufacturing issues, and a string of high-profile Boeing aircraft failures. These incidents eroded public trust, triggered contract cancellations, and led to widespread groundings of Boeing planes.

Before Trump’s inauguration, officials from the White House Military Office and senior Air Force leadership considered cancelling Boeing’s contract for the new presidential aircraft, according to the publication citing sources familiar with the matter.

Under Trump’s administration, White House officials also explored the possibility of suing Boeing, other sources said, with Boeing representatives reportedly having informed federal officials in November 2024 that the company would likely be unable to deliver the new planes until approximately 2035—pushing the timeline back by nearly a decade.

By Nazrin Sadigova