Report: Boeing CEO meets with Trump, makes ‘great progress’
Jan 17, 2017, 11:20 AM | Updated: 11:34 am
Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg says he and President-elect Donald Trump made “great progress” during a meeting on the next Air Force One fleet.
Muilenburg visited Trump Tower Tuesday morning to discuss the contract for the second time since Trump publicly criticized the aerospace giant for the estimated cost of the Air Force One program.
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Last month, Trump tweeted, “Boeing is building a brand new 747 Air Force One for future presidents, but costs are out of control, more than $4 billion. Cancel order!”
The New York businessman, who flies on his own Boeing plane, told reporters the cost to the government was “ridiculous,” though he appeared to be citing more than just the bare acquisition costs. Trump said he wanted the aircraft manufacturer to make money, “but not that much.”
In the wake of that, Muilenburg vowed that the company would build the new version of the jet for less money. However, the Air Force would likely have to change its requirements to lower costs.
“It was a terrific conversation,” Muilenburg said after his first meeting with Trump. “I have a lot of respect for him. He’s a good man and he’s doing the right thing.”
In March, the Government Accountability Office estimated the total program cost of the Air Force One program at more than $3.2 billion. Much of that would be for research and development. The Defense Department put the cost of two new aircraft around $4 billion, the Associated Press reports. That cost would also include research and development, construction and maintenance.
As of December, the Air Force spent around $170 million on contracts to begin identifying what would need to be done to a 747-8 to adapt it for use by the president and his staff. Under the current deal, the Air Force would purchase the 747-8, which is a newer version of the two currently in use by the government.
The two modified Boeing 747s President Obama has used were built in the 1980s. They took flight in the early 1990s.
The new Air Force One planes wouldn’t be ready until about 2023 or 2024, which would be the end of Trump’s second term — if he sought and won re-election.
Reuters reports that after their second meeting, Muilenburg, who wouldn’t go into much detail, said he and Trump “made some great progress on simplifying requirements for Air Force One,” which could lead to “substantial cost reductions.”
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