Donald Trump wants his new Air Force One, and he wants it fast and at a discount—though how much of a discount depends whether you ask Donald Trump circa December 2016 or Donald Trump now. But mostly he’s just echoing a line familiar to anyone who deals with toddlers: I want it.
Two officials said the President asked for the new plane to be done by 2021, the beginning of what would be a second term, which is three years sooner than the original plan of 2024. The two 747s are in California now, an official said, and Boeing will be done upgrading the planes by then, but the Air Force testing requirements could take an additional three years.
"He wants to fly on that new plane," a person familiar with the meeting said.
For months, the President has been fixated on a new plane and has repeatedly told his aides that he wants the plane to be completed for his second term. It's an open question whether that can happen -- given a lengthy Air Force testing time.
This adds new urgency to the 2020 elections: keep Donald Trump from getting to ride on a new Air Force One.
As for the costs, Trump originally claimed that the Air Force One contract should be canceled because it would cost “more than $4 billion.” The White House now says Trump was wrong then, and the cost was more than $5 billion all along, so the current pricing of $3.9 billion (for two planes) is a savings of more than $1 billion. Presumably that’s the only circumstance under which the White House is allowed to claim Trump was ever at any point in his life wrong—if him having been wrong then means he struck an especially good deal now.