President Donald Trump said he is considering buying a used plane and converting it into a presidential aircraft as Boeing continues to delay Air Force One deliveries.
“I’m not happy with Boeing. It takes them a long time to do Air Force One. We gave that contract out a long time ago. It was a fixed-price contract,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday. “And I’m not happy with the fact that it’s taken so long. And we may do something else. We may go and buy a plane or get a plane or something. But I’m not happy with the fact that it’s taken Boeing so long. There’s no excuse for it.”
Trump dismissed the option of buying Airbus planes as an alternative to Boeing while talking to reporters.
“No, I would not consider Airbus over Boeing,” he said. “I could buy one that was used and convert it. I could buy one from another country, perhaps, or get one from another country. So, we’re looking at other alternatives, because it’s taking Boeing too long.”
The original delivery date was scheduled for December 2024. The deadline was pushed to at least 2027 and 2028. Boeing blamed the delays on labor constraints, changes in the designs, and supply chain issues.
“Our team is fighting through a very, very challenging program—two very complex airplanes,” Ted Colbert, who heads Boeing Defense, Space, and Security, said in July last year. “We’ve done a ton of investment in our workforce and training, efficiency, work on the factory floor.”
Boeing Under Pressure
The new Boeing 747-8 aircraft are being designed as an airborne White House, set to be equipped with military-grade avionics, a self-defense suite, and advanced communications systems. The planes are expected to be capable of operating under extreme security situations, such as a nuclear war.In December 2024, billionaire Elon Musk, who leads the Department of Government Efficiency, visited Boeing.
Commenting on the visit, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said the company was working with the administration to speed up delivery while calling discussions with Musk “constructive.”
His comments followed an incident involving a Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft in which a door plug of the plane’s fuselage snapped off midair. The plane was forced to make an emergency landing and passengers were injured.

An employee working at the supplier informed their manager that two holes in the planes may not have been drilled per requirements.