AviationWeek gets a look at the two new Presidential transport aircraft that will be President Biden’s to travel in sometime in the next few year’s …
They actually belong to the US Air Force and they are Boeing -747-8’s that where supposed to go to a defunct Russian airline…They will be in the books at VC-25B’s….They will cost us taxpayers over $4 billion….Yes…
That IS an expensive ride….
Each plane cost’s out at about 5 times the cost a commercial airline would pay for the B-747-8 planes which can fly 8,000 nautical miles…
AviationWeek will be featuring a pod cast update…
With both Boeing VC-25Bs still months away from entering flight test, a one-hour documentary set to air for the first time in the U.S. on the National Geographic, or NatGeo, channel on Feb. 15 provides an unprecedented glimpse behind the scenes of one of the U.S. Air Force’s most secretive — albeit, still highly-visible — aircraft development programs.
By working contacts in military and diplomatic circles, Scott Bateman, the NatGeo producer and commercial pilot, secured the White House’s blessing for privileged access to the most famous aircraft in the world.
The documentary, “The New Air Force One: Flying Fortress,” includes an exclusive interview last year with then-President Donald Trump on board the VC-25A, a behind-the-scenes tour of the Presidential Airlift Group at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland and highly rare and privileged access inside the hangar in San Antonio, Texas, where Boeing is modifying two ex-Transaero 747-8s into the next long-range presidential transports.
The sourcing of the 747-8s from a bankrupt Russian airline came after the personal intervention in December 2016 of then-President-elect Donald Trump, who declared the original $5 billion contract with Boeing too expensive. By deleting a requirement for in-flight refueling and switching the aircraft from new-build models to Transaero’s unclaimed white tails, Boeing agreed to deliver both VC-25Bs under a $3.9 billion firm, fixed-price contract.
Converting an airliner into a VVIP aircraft that also happens to serve as a military command center isn’t easy. The last time around in the late-1980s, Boeing lost $400 million on a fixed-price contract converting two new 747-200s into the VC-25As now flying. This time, Boeing is already reported a $168 million financial charge on the VC-25B program, with four years left to complete the contract as scheduled….
image… Boeing