Washington [US], May 2: U.S. President Donald Trump is likely to temporarily use an old upgraded Boeing 747 plane, while waiting for a new jet in Boeing's project, which has been delayed several times.
Experts have revealed that the U.S. government has selected military contractor L3Harris Technologies to overhaul a former Qatari government Boeing 747 to be used as a temporary Air Force One aircraft.
US President Donald Trump has been frustrated about Boeing's new Air Force One being delayed several times and wants a new plane to be used as soon as next fall, according to The Wall Street Journal on May 1.
Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment, while L3Harris Technologies declined to comment on the information.
In mid-February, Trump expressed dissatisfaction with Boeing but ruled out rival Airbus, which should look for an alternative. At the same time, he toured a 12-year-old 747-8 in Florida to get a better understanding of the president's jet.
The White House and military officials have also discussed the possibility of suing Boeing or canceling contracts to buy new planes before Trump's inauguration in January. Reuters quoted a source as saying that Trump mentioned the delay in his first call with Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg last year.
In February, Ortberg said that Trump's adviser Elon Musk, Boeing's rival in space, was "helping us a lot" in addressing delays in the delivery of Air Force One.
Also in February, a senior U.S. official said the Air Force One program could be further delayed until 2029 or beyond, in part due to supply chain issues. Boeing lost more than $2 billion on the $3.9 billion Air Force One program.
Trump said he was unhappy with Boeing due to the delay in delivering Air Force One planes and that his administration would likely have to "do something else."
Boeing's Air Force One program is in trouble due to supply chain issues, high costs and the complexity of the planes intended to be the "White House in the air".
L3Harris Technologies is Boeing's contractor, in charge of communications systems for the alternate Air Force One pair. The new jets are expected to serve temporarily alongside the current pair of old Boeing jets.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper
