President Donald Trump has struck a deal with The Boeing Company for a new generation of two Air Force One aircrafts at a lower cost than originally proposed.
“Yesterday, the United States Air Force awarded a firm fixed price contract to The Boeing Company to design, modify, test, certify, and deliver two Presidential, mission-ready aircraft by 2024,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Wednesday.
“The contract sets the total price for the two completed Air Force One replacement aircraft at $3.9 billion, saving the taxpayers over $1.4 billion from the initially proposed $5.3 billion cost-plus contract,” Sanders added.
Trump made the issue of lowering the price of the next generation of Air Force One airplanes an issue in the early days of his transition period.
Boeing is building a brand new 747 Air Force One for future presidents, but costs are out of control, more than $4 billion. Cancel order!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 6, 2016
“The plane is totally out of control. It’s going to be over $4 billion for Air Force One program. I think it’s ridiculous, I think Boeing is doing a little bit of a number. We want Boeing to make a lot of money, but not that much money,” the president told reporters in December 2016.