Musk Talks to Boeing About Hurrying Air Force One Models

President Trump ordered the next generation of presidential planes during his first term, spent four years out of office, and returned to find the two modified 747s not yet delivered by Boeing. In addition to being years behind schedule, the project is more than $2 billion over budget, CNBC reports. Boeing blames the problems on design changes, labor issues, and supply chain problems. Trump has now assigned Elon Musk to hurry the planes along. "The president wants the airplane sooner, and so we're working with Elon and the team to figure what can we do to pull up the schedule of that aircraft," Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said.

Musk, whose assignment includes identifying cuttable costs—as he's promised to do as head of Trump's Department of Government Efficiency—went to Boeing in Washington to confer, per CNN. Ortberg described the talks as constructive. "They sincerely are looking at things in the contract or in the process that are slowing us down that are not providing value," he said. The planes were originally scheduled for delivery in 2022, though 2027 is the earliest they'll land now. Boeing said that it's in discussions with the Air Force about the timing, and Ortberg said there's no single step that will put the project back on track. Musk competes with Boeing, as his SpaceX is a rival of Boeing's space unit. (More Elon Musk stories.)