Air Force One: Out With The New, In With The Old
President of the United States Joe Biden selected the livery design for the “Next Air Force One,” VC-25B, a design that will closely resemble the livery of the current Air Force One, VC-25A, while also modernizing for the 21st century (Courtesy rendering from the United States Department of the Air Force).
Air Force One just unveiled its new color scheme as the Biden Administration looks to make its mark on the new jets.
Article by Georgia Simon, Associate White House Reporter
WASHINGTON - President Biden revealed his Air Force One color scheme on Friday, March 10th and has opted to take a more modern style to his personalized jets, shying away from the Trump Administration's blue, white and deep red approach.
Former President Trump’s idea had the bottom side of the jet as a navy blue with a sleek red line running through the middle of the plane.
However, last year, former President Trump's design got rejected due to required engineering that would have taken additional time onto the already delayed project as well as increasing the cost for the much needed planes.
“Next Air Force One” is what the new jet is being named and is inspired by the current design. The new jet will have a darker shade of blue covering the front portion of the plane as well as across the various engines. This new color scheme will not put any additional cost onto the program, differing from former President Trump’s idea.
The generalized colors will remain similar to President John F. Kennedy’s design for Air Force One while he was President, just around 60 years ago.
“According to the Air Force, President Joe Biden had to select the new livery so that Boeing could conduct engineering, certification preparation, and more for the VC-25B aircraft, which is a modified 747-8i,” CNN said. “These steps will occur as Boeing is also modifying and testing the fleet of two aircraft currently under construction.”
2027 and 2028 will be the first arrival for two of the new VC-25B's.
The original Boeing deal was first made during the Trump-presidency back in 2018. After the program was first created, then President Trump said that “Air Force One is going to be incredible.”
“It’s going to be the top of the line, the top in the world. And it’s going to be red, white and blue, which I think is appropriate,” President Trump told CBS in 2018.
The former President asked for two, red, white and blue planes to be built by 2021, however there have been many serious setbacks including the coronavirus pandemic and the shortage for workers.
Boeing has run into many issues whilst building the jets which has shown to be a regrettable deal for the company itself. Boeing CEO David Calhoun said that building the new Air Force One was “a very unique set of risks that Boeing probably shouldn't have taken.”
The deal between the Air Force and Boeing was a $3.9 billion contract. Former President Trump became very involved with this deal, even going so far as to meeting with Boeing “big-wigs” to finalize the contract at the White House.