Elon Musk Is Now Helping Boeing Deliver The Air Force One Replacement Sooner

Elon Musk conducted a Boeing facility visit to solve the long-term delays in the 747 jet renovation project that will become the next-generation Air Force One aircraft. Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg disclosed in a CNBC interview about meetings between the company and both Musk and the U.S. Air Force to speed up delivery schedules. The delivery timeline for these jets moved from 2022 to 2027 as the latest estimated date.

The discussions proved beneficial, according to Ortberg, because Musk spent time with the team to identify areas of improvement in the contract and process. The ongoing discussions between the parties focus on making operations more efficient and cutting down delays to complete the project on schedule. The Air Force One program, known as VC-25B, faces major obstacles, according to Ortberg, who explained to Musk that his operational optimization expertise cannot resolve the program’s fundamental problems.

Each Air Force One jet project now has costs that surpass their initial budget by more than $1 billion. Boeing holds responsibility for the Air Force One project costs through its $3.9 billion fixed-price agreement with the Air Force. The program delays stem from staffing shortages and supply chain issues together with complicated security feature integration requirements.

The financial challenges at Boeing continue to grow worse because of a $1.7 billion military contract expense that affects the Air Force One program as Boeing faces multiple operational losses. Chief Executive Officer Ortberg stated that Boeing needed extended time to recover after the company showed a yearly loss of $11.8 billion. The valuable contributions made by Musk will not serve as a complete solution to fix the struggling aerospace company.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *