Boeing CEO says company 'shouldn't have taken' Donald Trump's Air Force One deal



The chief executive officer of aircraft manufacturing giant Boeing said on Wednesday that the $3.9 billion deal that the company struck with former President Donald Trump in 2018 to build two new Air Force One planes is over budget, behind schedule, and was in hindsight, not a good idea.

The contract was a renegotiation of a 2016 agreement between Boeing's ex-CEO Dennis Muilenberg and then-President Barack Obama, but Trump had objected to the price tag after taking office.

The Air Force admitted in early April that a "combination of factors including impacts from the Covid-19 pandemic, interiors supplier transition, manpower limitations, wiring design timelines and test execution rates" have gotten in the way of delivery.

Today, however, CEO David Calhoun said that numerous challenges have arisen and that his predecessor "probably shouldn't have taken" Trump's offer to deliver two 747-8s – or VC-25Bs – in the first place, CNN reported.

"Air Force One, I'm just going to call a very unique moment, a very unique negotiation. A very unique set of risks that Boeing probably shouldn't have taken," Calhoun said. "But we are where we are."

The upgraded aircraft were originally scheduled to be in service by the end of 2024. But the pandemic was a particularly difficult obstacle to overcome. As a result, they are not expected to be completed until late 2026, Calhoun explained.

"When a Covid line goes down or a group of workers steps out, we don't have a whole bunch of cleared people to step into their shoes," he said. "For VC-25B where the clearances are ultra-high, it's really tough."

CNBC noted that "Boeing reported a net loss of $1.2 billion for the first quarter of 2022, with a charge of $660 million associated with delays and higher costs for the Air Force One program."

Despite all of that, though, Calhoun pledged that “we are where we are, and we’re going to deliver great airplanes and we’re going to recognize the costs associated with it."

The current Air Force One – a 747-200B – has been in service since 1990.



from Alternet.org https://ift.tt/BDHpCNb
via sinceretalk

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How misinformation could shape the Israel-Hamas war

Image
I wanted to interview Nicholas Grossman regarding the role of misinformation in the war between Israel and Hamas. In particular, I hoped to ask the professor of international relations at the University of Illinois, and senior editor of Arc Digital , about misinformation that arose from American reporting on an explosion at a hospital in Gaza. You know what? I ended up repeating a bit of misinformation! I asked him to lay out the facts about a blast that “killed hundreds, including kids,” and he said nuh-uh (not his words). In fact, Professor Grossman said, “there never were hundreds killed by an explosion at that hospital. Media reported that the hospital was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike killing 500, but that was based on something a Hamas-controlled agency said and was never supported by evidence.” Professor Grossman went on to say “what apparently did happen is something hit a nearby parking lot and caused a smaller explosion, most likely a rocket fired from Gaza towards I
Read more

PA GOP Senate candidate who says he 'started with nothing' actually grew up in a mansion

Image
David McCormick, who is Pennsylvania's presumptive Republican U.S. Senate nominee, has often suggested he grew up poor in a rural community. But a new report finds that his upbringing was far more affluent than he's suggested. The New York Times reported Friday that McCormick — a former hedge fund executive who lived in Connecticut as recently as 2022 — has been cagey with voters about his childhood. McCormick has tweeted that he was "raised in Bloomsburg working on his family's farm," said on a 2022 podcast that he " started with nothing " and told CBS News that same year that he " didn't have anything " growing up as the son of two schoolteachers. But according to the Times , McCormick's father, Dr. James H. McCormick , was appointed president of what is now Bloomsburg University by Gov. Milton Schapp (D) in 1973. He moved his family into Buckalew Place — the official mansion for presidents of the school that currently spans 5
Read more

'It is his aphrodisiac': Ex-RNC chair explains how gag order 'stimulates' Trump and his base

Image
As President Donald Trump faces gag orders in two separate cases — one from Judge Arthur Engoron presiding over his New York civil fraud trial, and the other from Judge Tanya Chutkan, who will preside of his Washington, DC January 6 trial in March — some experts expect him to violate the orders soon. With a history of threatening and verbally attacking others, MSNBC's Deadline: White House host Nicolle Wallace on Tuesday pointed to the fact the ex-president's rhetoric influenced January 6 rioters who chanted, "Hang Mike Pence!" Noting Trump "gets deeply stimulated and excited by the violence," Wallace asked analyst and ex-Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele what he thinks the MAGA hopeful's "calculation is on whether violating these gag orders lands him in jail is a good thing or bad thing for him." POLL : Should Trump be allowed to hold office again? Steele replied, "You put your finger on two very important words t
Read more