I was just wondering…maybe if Boeing had thrown in a gold-plated bidet and a Diet Coke button, they’d still be in the running.
“OK, Guy”, you are thinking, “We admire your rapier-sharp wit, but give us some information we can use.”
A Flying Money Pit
Here you go: Boeing’s Air Force One project has turned into one hell of a money pit, and it’s dragging on like a Netflix series that should’ve ended two seasons ago.
The company is now staring down at least a $2 billion loss, thanks in large part to a 2018 fixed-price contract that locked them into a $3.9 billion deal. Fast-forward to 2025, and costs have ballooned to $4.7 billion. Boeing can’t pass those overruns onto Uncle Sam, which is great for taxpayers but a financial nightmare for the aerospace giant. The company has been bleeding cash on the project, with some quarters showing hundreds of millions in negative flow—something investors have noticed, given how Boeing stock’s been limping along.
So what went wrong? Just about everything. First, a key interior supplier went belly-up, forcing Boeing to scramble for replacements and redesign complicated wiring systems. That alone would be a headache, but pile on a chronic shortage of skilled workers—especially the kind who can pass top-level security clearances—and production starts to crawl. Then COVID-19 came along, blowing up global supply chains and slowing everything down even more.
Meanwhile, the technical demands of transforming a 747 into a flying fortress haven’t gotten any easier. We’re talking EMP shielding, cutting-edge comms, and all the bells and whistles you’d expect from the President’s ride. Turns out, those bells are expensive and tricky to install.
I was just wondering…maybe if Boeing had thrown in a gold-plated bidet and a Diet Coke button, they’d still be in the running.
“OK, Guy”, you are thinking, “We admire your rapier-sharp wit, but give us some information we can use.”
A Flying Money Pit
Here you go: Boeing’s Air Force One project has turned into one hell of a money pit, and it’s dragging on like a Netflix series that should’ve ended two seasons ago.
The company is now staring down at least a $2 billion loss, thanks in large part to a 2018 fixed-price contract that locked them into a $3.9 billion deal. Fast-forward to 2025, and costs have ballooned to $4.7 billion. Boeing can’t pass those overruns onto Uncle Sam, which is great for taxpayers but a financial nightmare for the aerospace giant. The company has been bleeding cash on the project, with some quarters showing hundreds of millions in negative flow—something investors have noticed, given how Boeing stock’s been limping along.
So what went wrong? Just about everything. First, a key interior supplier went belly-up, forcing Boeing to scramble for replacements and redesign complicated wiring systems. That alone would be a headache, but pile on a chronic shortage of skilled workers—especially the kind who can pass top-level security clearances—and production starts to crawl. Then COVID-19 came along, blowing up global supply chains and slowing everything down even more.
Meanwhile, the technical demands of transforming a 747 into a flying fortress haven’t gotten any easier. We’re talking EMP shielding, cutting-edge comms, and all the bells and whistles you’d expect from the President’s ride. Turns out, those bells are expensive and tricky to install.
As of now, don’t expect the new “made in America” Air Force One to be taxiing down the runway until 2027 or later. Between logistical disasters, technical nightmares, and a contract deal that looks worse by the day, Boeing’s “deal of the century” is starting to look more like a cautionary tale of how not to handle a government contract.
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