Boeing reported on Wednesday that it had lost $660 million following an Air Force One deal it had negotiated with former President Trump, with its chief executive saying in a quarterly earnings call that the company should never have taken on its unique set of risks.
“You know, Air Force One, I’m just going to call a very unique moment, a very unique negotiation, a very unique set of risks that Boeing probably shouldn’t have taken,” Boeing CEO David Calhoun said during the call Wednesday, “but we are where we are, and we’re going to deliver great airplanes, and we’re going to recognize the costs associated with it.”
According to the company, the loss of money is “primarily driven by higher supplier costs, higher costs to finalize technical requirements and schedule delays.”
In July 2018, the White House announced that a $3.9 billion contract had been awarded to Boeing that would establish two new pieces of aircraft that would be used for the president by 2024 as Air Force One planes.
Amid negotiations, the price tag of the agreement dropped from $5.3 billion to $3.9 billion, and Trump said in July 2018 that the plane’s colors scheme would be red, white and blue instead of the typical light blue and white color scheme.
But production of the soon-to-be presidential aircraft has been mired in several scandals, including two empty mini tequila bottles that were found on one of the planes set to be used by the White House.
A probe separately found that two workers had either failed a drug test or were not credentialed properly to work on the planes.
The Hill has reached out to a Trump spokesperson for comment.