Boeing faces challenges in making two US presidential planes | News

Boeing’s defense chief Ted Colbert said Sunday the company still faces “challenges” in making two Air Force One planes for the US presidency.

Colbert added that the company faces challenges related to supply chains, inflation, labor and other difficulties in manufacturing the two aircraft, noting that the company faces a very difficult program as the two aircraft are very complex.

Boeing in 2018 won a $3.9 billion contract to build two 747-8s for use as Air Force One, with delivery scheduled for December 2024, but that has been pushed back to at least 2027 and 2028.

Boeing is making major modifications to the two planes, and the company has lost more than $2 billion on this program.

The two aircraft were designed to serve as an airborne White House headquarters capable of flying in the worst security conditions, including nuclear war.

The modification included equipping the two aircraft with the latest military electronic and communications aviation systems, as well as a self-defense system.

737 Max

Meanwhile, Boeing Commercial Airplanes’ new CEO Stephanie Pope said on Sunday that the company is seeing significant improvement in its factory’s production of the 737 Max, as the U.S. aircraft manufacturer struggles to overcome a safety crisis.

“We are a stable company,” Pope said in her first comments to reporters in London since being appointed to the role earlier this year, ahead of this week’s Farnborough Airshow.

She said the changes at the company’s Seattle-area factory, which produces its best-selling aircraft, would be significant, adding, “This is not a minor change, this is a comprehensive change.”

Boeing is facing a crisis after a 737 Max 9 door broke off mid-air after takeoff in January, slowing production of its best-selling plane and heightening regulatory and legal scrutiny.

Boeing also agreed to plead guilty to a charge of criminal conspiracy to commit fraud in an investigation into two previous fatal crashes of 737 Max jets, the Justice Department said in court filings, but Bob did not comment on the plea deal.

The US Federal Aviation Administration in January took the unprecedented step of barring Boeing from increasing production beyond 38 Max jets a month until it was satisfied with the planemaker’s quality and manufacturing improvements.