Latest news with #Boeing747-8s
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Atlas Air Worldwide Releases 2024 Sustainability Report
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., May 22, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, Inc. ('Atlas' or the 'Company'), the leading global provider of outsourced aviation logistics, today announced the release of its 2024 Sustainability Report. Atlas' sixth Sustainability Report provides details on the initiatives and programs that are helping move the Company forward on its sustainability journey. The progress described in the report is aligned with four key pillars in Atlas' sustainability strategy: Preserve Our Planet, Care for Our People, Maximize Social Impact and Grow Responsibly. "As the global leader in outsourced aviation logistics, we recognize our responsibility to Care for the World We Carry," said Michael Steen, Chief Executive Officer, Atlas Air Worldwide. "Our One Atlas strategy, which positions sustainability as both a business imperative and a competitive advantage, is central to how we deliver on our commitment. In 2024, we continued to embed sustainability across every part of our Company, from improving fleet efficiencies and reducing emissions, to elevating employee training and safety initiatives, to making a positive impact in the communities in which we operate and reinforcing our dedication to responsible business practices. This integrated approach is how we provide long-term value for our customers, build resilience for the future, and drive measurable impact across the global supply chain.' "We have set meaningful goals to reduce our emissions, which contributes directly to our customers' own sustainability targets," said Richard Broekman, Chief Commercial Officer and Head of Sustainability. "Last year, we modernized our fleet with eight new fuel-efficient widebody freighters, increased our use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), and created efficiencies in our operations – all are contributing to decarbonization in the aviation industry. This report provides an overview of a year marked by steady progress as we continued to lay the groundwork to advance our sustainability strategy in the years to come." Key highlights from the 2024 report include: Preserve Our Planet Strengthened strategy and implementation efforts by adding a Staff Vice President of Sustainability and a Sustainability Project Manager. Expanded our freighter fleet with three Boeing 747-8s, one 777, and four 747-400s—among the most capable and environmentally responsible widebody aircraft—offering up to 25% greater payload capacity and up to 16% lower fuel consumption compared to earlier models. Partnered with the Smart Freight Centre to support collaborative efforts aimed at advancing policies and practices that increase sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production and affordability. Care for Our People Introduced the campaign, which engages employees to keep safety, security and compliance top of mind. Signed the IATA Safety Leadership Charter, demonstrating shared commitment to promoting a safety culture throughout the industry. Launched a series of events, workshops and digital learning opportunities to empower employees at all levels with transformative Leadership Principles, as well as an online Learning Hub platform. Ensured active employee engagement through various feedback channels, including engagement surveys, feedback loops, CEO Round Table discussions, Company-wide Town Halls and Human Resources Town Square discussions. Continued growing the Atlas Air Worldwide Women's Network (AAWWN), which provides mentorship, professional development and industry leadership. Maximize Social Impact Raised more than $330,000 to benefit K9s for Warriors, which provides trained service dogs to military veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury and/or military sexual trauma. Awarded $50,000 in needs-based scholarships to the University of Alaska Anchorage for aspiring future pilots and maintenance technicians. Contributed to relief efforts in the aftermath of Hurricanes Milton and Helene. Spent nearly $1.9 million with small businesses and continued to develop policies and facilitate strategies to support veteran-owned, service-disabled veteran-owned, woman-owned and historically underutilized business regions. Grow Responsibly Advanced the growth and innovation of SAF throughout the industry in collaboration with the U.S. House of Representatives' bipartisan SAF Caucus and the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities. Continued to progress on reporting to the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) by collaborating with industry partners to support program implementation and working with customers on carbon offset and SAF strategies. Enhanced our emission reporting transparency by disclosing Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions and biogenic CO₂ emissions associated with the use of SAF. Received approval for Cybersecurity Implementation Plan from the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. To learn more about Atlas Air Worldwide's sustainability efforts, view the 2024 Atlas Sustainability Report: Sustainability – Atlas Air Worldwide. About Atlas Air Worldwide Atlas Air Worldwide is a leading global provider of outsourced aircraft and aviation operating services. It is the parent company of Atlas Air, Inc., and Titan Aviation Holdings, Inc., and is the majority shareholder of Polar Air Cargo Worldwide, Inc. Our companies operate the world's largest fleet of 747 freighter aircraft and provide customers the broadest array of Boeing 747, 777, 767 and 737 aircraft for domestic, regional and international cargo and passenger operations. Contacts: Media: CorpCommunications@ in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump could get Qatar plane as new Air Force One. He toured the 'flying palace' in Florida
President Donald Trump could be getting a new plane from Qatar to use as the next presidential aircraft. The possibility of an extravagant foreign gift immediately raised ethical concerns. A constitutional provision bars U.S. officials from accepting presents from any king, prince or foreign state. Since taking office for a second time in January 2025, Trump has flown to Palm Beach, Florida, to visit his private club Mar-a-Lago aka the "Winter White House," for 10 weekends, according to the Palm Beach Daily News, a USA TODAY Network newspaper. He's used the current presidential aircraft, modified Boeing 747s, which are called Air Force One when he is aboard. But Trump has been eager to change up the presidential airplanes since his first presidency. Here is what to know about his current ride and how it could change with the Qatari gift. Trump and Air Force One: How much does it cost to operate presidential airplane? Since his first presidency, Trump has lamented the colors of the Air Force One planes, and tried to get it repainted to red, white and blue, but the plan was rejected over heat exposure concerns. Boeing has been working on Boeing 747-8s to become the new presidential planes to address "capability gaps" in the old fleet. However, the new planes have faced production delays, calling into question whether they would be ready before the end of Trump's presidency. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who also leads the Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE for the Trump administration, had reportedly been trying to help Boeing speed up production, according to CNBC. Trump cast the gifted planes from Qatar as a solution to the delays at a May 12 press conference at the White House. "We're very disappointed it's taking Boeing so long to build a new Air Force One. You know, we have an Air Force One that's 40 years old," he said at the press conference. He said Qatar wanted to step in and help. "I think it's a great gesture from Qatar ... Now, I could be a stupid person and say 'we don't want a free plane.'" ABC News broke the news of the potential gift on May 11 or Mother's Day. Trump has toured the plane he could soon use as Air Force One in Palm Beach in February, according to Reuters: "Trump toured the Qatari-owned 747-8 in February (2025) when it was parked at Palm Beach International Airport in Florida, near his Mar-a-Lago resort. At the time, the White House said the president did so to get a better understanding of how the updated Air Force One planes would be configured," the Reuters story states. This particular Boeing 474-8 is made to be so luxurious it is known as a "flying palace," ABC News reported. Trump told reporters at the press conference that the gifted plane would eventually go to his library, but denied he would use the planes himself after leaving office. Trump first addressed the reports about the gifted plane on social media on May 11, 2025, which was the Mother's Day holiday. "So the fact that the Defense Department is getting a GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE, of a 747 aircraft to replace the 40-year-old Air Force One, temporarily, in a very public and transparent transaction, so bothers the Crooked Democrats that they insist we pay, TOP DOLLAR, for the plane," Trump's post stated. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt also said the gift would be accepted in compliance with the law, USA TODAY reported. A new commercial 747-8 costs approximately $400 million, according to Reuters. Qatar is a country in the Middle East located on the Persian Gulf. Trump is heading to the region this week with scheduled visits to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, according to pool reports. A spokesperson for Qatar said the gift arrangement was still under consideration, according to USA TODAY. 'The possible transfer of an aircraft for temporary use as Air Force One is currently under consideration between Qatar's Ministry of Defense and the US Department of Defense, but the matter remains under review by the respective legal departments, and no decision has been made,' media attache to the U.S. Ali Al-Ansari said, USA TODAY reported. Trump also recently revealed he is considering changing the U.S.-recognized name for the Persian Gulf to "Arabian Gulf," which could be discussed on this trip. The body of water has a historically Iranian identity. Contributing: John Bisognano and Alexandra Clough, Palm Beach Post; Sudiksha Kochi, Joey Garrison and Bart Jansen, USA TODAY Kinsey Crowley is the Trump Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at kcrowley@ Follow her on X and TikTok @kinseycrowley or Bluesky at @ This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Trump, Qatar plane gift: Cost, photos, ethics of new Air Force One
Roya News
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Roya News
Trump to accept luxury Boeing 747 from Qatar for Air Force One
The Trump administration is preparing to accept a Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet from the royal family of Qatar, which will be modified to serve as Air Force One, according to multiple sources familiar with the arrangement. The aircraft, valued at approximately USD 400 million, would be one of the most significant gifts ever received by the US government from a foreign entity. The plane, described as a 'flying palace' due to its luxurious interior, is expected to be used temporarily as Air Force One until the completion of two new Boeing 747-8s, which are currently under construction but delayed until at least 2027. The Qatari aircraft, approximately 13 years old, will be transferred to the US Department of Defense and retrofitted with secure communications and other military specifications required for presidential travel. Sources indicate that after President Donald Trump's second term concludes in January 2029, the plane will be donated to the Trump Presidential Library Foundation. Trump confirmed the plan in a social media post on May 11, 2025, stating that the Defense Department would receive the aircraft 'free of charge' in a 'public and transparent transaction.' The Qatari government, through its media attaché Ali Al-Ansari, acknowledged ongoing discussions between Qatar's Ministry of Defense and the US Department of Defense regarding the 'possible transfer' of the aircraft for temporary use. However, Al-Ansari clarified that no final decision has been made and denied reports that the plane would be gifted during Trump's visit to Qatar, scheduled as part of his Middle East tour starting May 12, 2025. The White House and the Department of Justice have reportedly concluded that accepting the plane is legally permissible, as it will be gifted to the US Air Force, not directly to Trump. An analysis by Attorney General Pam Bondi and the White House counsel's office stated that the transfer does not violate federal laws, as it is not conditioned on any official act. The current Air Force One fleet consists of two modified Boeing 747-200B aircraft, operational since 1990 and 1991. Boeing's contract to replace these with new 747-8s, signed during Trump's first term, has faced significant delays and cost overruns, with the project now over USD2 billion above budget. Trump expressed frustration with these delays earlier this year, noting during a February tour of the Qatari-owned 747 at Palm Beach International Airport that he was exploring alternatives. The proposed aircraft, previously operated by Qatar Amiri Flight, has a VIP configuration with 89 seats and was transferred to Global Jet in December 2023 under the registration P4-HBJ. L3Harris Technologies has been appointed to overhaul the plane to meet presidential requirements. The Trump administration has emphasized that any gift from a foreign government will be accepted in compliance with all applicable laws, with White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stating, 'President Trump's administration is committed to full transparency.'
Business Times
08-05-2025
- Business
- Business Times
Boeing vows to deliver new Air Force One by 2027, US official says
[WASHINGTON] A top US Air Force official said Boeing is proposing to deliver its new version of Air Force One by 2027 as officials look to satisfy US President Donald Trump's demand for the updated presidential jetliner before the end of his second term. While Boeing aims to deliver the aircraft on the accelerated timeline, 'I would not necessarily guarantee that date,' Darlene Costello, the Air Force's acting acquisitions chief, told a House Armed Services subcommittee hearing on Wednesday (May 7). The Air Force is working with partners in the government and commercial sector as part of the process, Costello and Lieutenant General David Tabor, the Air Force's deputy chief of staff for plans and programmes, said in a joint prepared statement. 'We are looking at the requirements that are being potentially traded off to get to that date,' Costello said. The Air Force is working with the White House on 'what is acceptable', she said. A Boeing spokesperson said the company would defer to the Air Force. But Kelly Ortberg, the aircraft manufacturer's chief executive officer, has touted progress being made behind the scenes in advancing the chronically delayed programme, with Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency contributing to the effort. 'We continue to work with the customer to revise the programme plan to allow for an earlier first delivery while maintaining our focus on safety and quality,' Ortberg said in an Apr 23 earnings call.' BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up Boeing has made a 'significant improvement', winnowing its timeline for delivering the first of the presidential aircraft by one to two years from the schedule it presented to Pentagon officials a few months ago, Costello said. But the White House and Air Force first have to study and agree to the trade-offs the company is proposing, she said without elaborating on the changes. The Air Force and Boeing are working through delays caused by workforce limitations, problems with interior suppliers and the completion of wiring design, the service officials said. During his first term as president, Trump directed the Pentagon to plunk down US$3.9 billion for a pair of Boeing 747-8s to serve as the next generation of Air Force One. Now, Trump might be lucky to board the new plane before he leaves office. Yet getting the jumbo jets – dubbed VC-25B – into service is a priority for the president. In an April executive order directing a review of major weapons systems, the White House said the project was 'now five years behind schedule, delayed until 2029 or later, despite the contract being awarded in 2018'. 'They can never finish the damn thing,' Trump complained in February. The Air Force had previously disclosed that about a dozen technical obstacles have caused delays – from flaws in the cockpit and passenger windows to cracked fuselage structures, excessive noise and the required certification of the unique planes' flight-handling characteristics. The delays have led Trump to start looking elsewhere for a new plane, and his eye has fallen on a Qatari-owned 747 dripping in the kind of gilded, leather-swathed luxury that the former real estate developer is known to crave. BLOOMBERG
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Inside Trump's turbulent love affair with Air Force One
The plane colloquially known as Air Force One does nothing if not command awe and attention. It is the ultimate symbol of the American president's power and status. It is the most secure, expensive and technologically advanced passenger aircraft in the world, and dwarfs that of almost any other world leader. Painted white and robin's egg blue with 'United States of America' emblazoned on its fuselage, it is the first thing host nations see on their screens when the US president arrives to visit. It has become 'part of our national mythology,' says Kenneth Walsh, author of its history. Small wonder, then, that President Trump is upset. The new Air Force One that he ordered early in his first term – actually the two new Air Force Ones he ordered, because there is always a back-up – were supposed to have been delivered by now. Instead they are very unlikely to be delivered before the end of this, his second term of office. This matters to Trump. An aviation enthusiast who once ran the hourly Trump Shuttle service between New York, Boston and Washington DC, he personally negotiated the contract for the pair of highly customised Boeing 747-8s in 2018. He designed the new planes' red, white and blue livery. During the four-year hiatus between his two terms he kept a model of the new Air Force One on the desk in his office in Mar-a-Lago, and cut a cake topped by another model of the plane at one of his inauguration balls in January. For a president who so evidently considers himself vastly superior to all his recent predecessors the delay must be maddening. It means he will have to use the same 35-year-old aircraft as President Biden, a man he loathes, and Presidents Obama, George W Bush, Clinton and George H W Bush before him. Indeed, he once complained – improbably – that the present presidential plane was inferior to his own private jet, 'Trump Force One', a 34-year-old Boeing 757 with its own conference room, cinema and gold-plated seat belt buckles, which he bought in 2011 from the Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. Air Force One 'is a step down from this in every way,' he boasted to Rolling Stone magazine. In his pique, Trump has threatened to cancel the order. He has ostentatiously sized up alternatives, including a 12-year-old plane that had belonged to the Qatari royal family and which he recently inspected when it was parked at Palm Beach International Airport. He has even instructed his close ally Elon Musk to intervene with Boeing, notwithstanding the fact that Musk owns the rocket company SpaceX which is a direct rival of Boeing's aerospace business. Trump regards Boeing as being almost a lost cause and often laments how far that once-great company has fallen, according to The New York Times. 'They can never finish the damn thing,' he protested during a public appearance last month. 'They are actually in default,' he complained during an interview on Fox News. 'It's ridiculous the delivery of a new Air Force One airplane has been delayed for such a long time,' his spokesman said. The delay not only offends Trump's self-importance. The failure of one of America's most famous companies, of the world's largest aerospace company, to deliver such a revered symbol of US pre-eminence is downright embarrassing for the man who has been promising since 2016 to make his country great again. Franklin D Roosevelt was the first sitting president to take to the air, and in 1943 he secretly flew to Casablanca for a conference with Winston Churchill in a Boeing 314 flying boat. The 5,500-mile journey took 42 hours each way, and on the way back FDR celebrated his 61st birthday with a cake. Two years later he flew to the Yalta conference to meet Churchill and Stalin in a precursor of what we now recognise as Air Force One – a Douglas VC-54 Skymaster nicknamed the 'Sacred Cow' which boasted a sleeping area, communications links and a special lift to get the president aboard in his wheelchair. Strictly speaking, Air Force One is the call sign used for any plane bearing the president, not the plane itself. Roosevelt's successor, Harry Truman used a Douglas VC-118 Liftmaster named the Independence after his home town in Missouri, and was so delighted with the plane that he once had the pilot 'dive bomb' the White House so his wife Bess and daughter Margaret could see it. By the late 1950s Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet president, was using a Tupolev Tu-114, the largest and fastest passenger plane in the world at that time. To catch up, the US ordered three Boeing 707-120s for presidential use, and for a visit to West Germany in 1959 President Eisenhower became the first US president to fly in a jet plane rather than a propeller-driven aircraft. In 1962 President Kennedy took delivery of a modified Boeing 707 Stratoliner with the blue and white livery – designed by Raymond Loewy at Jacqueline Kennedy's behest – that is still used on today's Air Force One. In 1963 the plane flew Kennedy to West Berlin where he delivered his celebrated 'Ich bin ein Berliner' speech. That November it carried Kennedy's body back to Washington DC following his assassination in Dallas, and hosted Vice-President Lyndon Johnson's inauguration as his successor. The same plane subsequently flew President Nixon on his groundbreaking visits to China and the Soviet Union in 1972, before being replaced that December by another VC-137C. Two years later that new plane flew Nixon back to California after he announced he was resigning over Watergate: the pilot changed its call sign somewhere over Missouri after Vice-President Gerald Ford was sworn in as the new president back in Washington. Ford would later cement his reputation for clumsiness by falling down the steps of Air Force One when arriving in Salzburg, Austria in 1975 (Biden was so shaky by the end of his presidency that he frequently used Air Force One's shorter, sturdier back stairs). The two hugely modified Boeing 747-200 jets that presently serve as Air Force One were ordered by the Reagan administration in 1985, and came into service after George H W Bush became president in 1989. Each boasts 4,000 square feet of interior floor space, is as high as a five-storey building and almost as long as a city block. Each contains a presidential suite and conference room with hand-crafted furniture, a medical clinic with operating table, two galleys capable of feeding 76 passengers and 26 carefully vetted military crew at one sitting, office and sleeping quarters for senior officials and rear compartments for the secret service and a dozen journalists. They have their own state-of-the-art communication systems, electronic signal jammers, and defences against missiles of all sorts and electromagnetic pulses caused by nuclear blasts (each reportedly has 238 miles of wiring). When airborne, they do not appear on civilian flight tracking systems. They require a runway of about 5,000 feet to land, and 10,800 feet to take off. They have a range of 7,800 miles, but can be refuelled in mid-air so they could serve indefinitely as airborne command centres in the event of a nuclear attack on the US. They have their own retractable stairways and luggage lifts so they do not have to rely on foreign airport facilities or personnel. The atmosphere on board tends to reflect the character of the president. Lyndon Johnson reputedly had assignations with female passengers. George H W Bush famously banned broccoli. Bill Clinton stayed up late, watched movies, played cards and talked endlessly to his travelling court. Having angered John Major by granting a visa to Gerry Adams in 1994, he mollified the prime minister by flying him on Air Force One to Pittsburgh, where his father had once worked as an acrobat. By contrast, George W Bush had a treadmill installed, once held a prayer meeting during a flight and went to bed early. On Sept 11 2001 he spent eight harrowing hours hopscotching from one secure location to another in the plane lest the al-Qaeda terrorists who had just destroyed New York's World Trade Center were targeting him as well. In earlier times those lucky enough to hitch a ride on the presidential plane took away packets of Air Force One cigarettes or, during Reagan's presidency, jelly beans. Today they leave with packets of red, blue and white Air Force One M&Ms sweets emblazoned with the presidential seal and signature of the sitting president. An upgrade has been mooted for some time. In 2015, Deborah Lee James, Secretary of the US Air Force, announced that 'the current fleet of VC-25 presidential aircraft has performed exceptionally well… yet it is time to upgrade. Parts obsolescence, diminishing manufacturing sources and increased down times for maintenance are existing challenges that will increase until a new aircraft is fielded.' Thus the Obama administration initiated the process of acquiring two new Air Force Ones, but it was Trump who drove that process forward after he was elected president the following year. Complaining that the project's costs were 'out of control', the self-professed 'master of the deal' personally negotiated with Dennis Muilenburg, then Boeing's chief executive, the terms of a fixed-cost $3.9 billion contract for two new 747-8 aircraft that they signed in 2018. Trump boasted that he had saved $1.4 billion, and took such a close interest in the new planes that he demanded a new, bolder livery with red, white and a darker shade of blue. The new planes would be faster, wider and 18 feet longer than the present Air Force Ones, and capable of flying a further 1,000 miles without refuelling. For Boeing that supposedly prestigious contract has since proved an economic and reputational disaster, even though the company is retrofitting two existing 747-8s that were built for a now-defunct Russian airline and never used, rather than building new ones. In 2022 Dave Calhoun, who succeeded Muilenburg as Boeing's chief executive but was himself replaced last year, admitted as much when he said it involved 'a very unique set of risks that Boeing probably shouldn't have taken.' Amazingly, the company has already lost between $2 and $3 billion on the project, despite abandoning the planes' costly aerial refuelling capabilities. The delivery date has slipped four or five years, which means the presidential jets will almost certainly be delivered too late for Trump to use them before leaving office in January 2029 (unless, of course, he can find a way to circumvent the US constitution and stand for a third term). 'It's as bad a black eye as you get in the industry,' said Richard Aboulafia, managing director of Aerodynamic Advisory, a Washington aerospace consultancy. Almost everything that could go wrong has done so. Boeing appears to have greatly underestimated the complex technical problems involved. It was hit by the Covid-19 lockdown, supply-chain problems and difficulties recruiting sufficient skilled and security-vetted workers. One of its key subcontractors went bust in 2021. It suffered a hugely distracting and costly crisis last year when the door of an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 blew out in mid-flight. That was followed by a seven-week strike by 33,000 machinists last autumn. Trump's colour scheme had to be abandoned because the dark-blue colour absorbed too much heat for the planes' complex electronics. Embarrassingly, two empty tequila bottles were found on one of the two aircraft at Boeing's plant in San Antonio, Texas, despite intense security and a ban on alcohol at all Boeing's factories. One worker on the highly classified project was found to be improperly credentialed, another failed a routine drugs test. Trump worries about his security. During the 2024 election campaign he sometimes used a decoy plane instead of Trump Force One because he feared Iran wanted to assassinate him, according to a new book by the journalist Alex Isenstadt entitled Revenge: The Inside Story of Trump's Return to Power. Trump likes using the presidential aircraft. He flies down to Mar-a-Lago from Washington DC to play golf most weekends, even though Air Force One costs approximately $200,000 an hour when it is airborne. He has been on Boeing's case almost from the moment he was re-elected last November, venting his frustration in telephone calls with Kelly Ortberg, Calhoun's successor as the company's chief executive. Then, on Dec 18, he dispatched Musk to San Antonio to speed up the process. The billionaire who is laying waste to the federal bureaucracy in Washington, and dreams of sending a spaceship to Mars, has since been exploring drastic measures for removing the bottlenecks. They reportedly include a shorter period for flight testing, simplifying some of the jets' more complex features and lowering the extreme security standards required of the mechanics, electricians and others working on them. Boeing is putting the best gloss on Musk's intervention, notwithstanding the fact that his SpaceX company is one of its fiercest competitors. 'The president's clearly not happy with the delivery timing. I think he's made that well known,' Ortberg told a conference in February. 'Elon Musk is actually helping us a lot… He's able to pretty quickly ascertain the difference between technical requirements and things that we can move out of the way.' Aboulafia pooh-poohs that, 'The idea of someone showing up with an adaptation of a chainsaw and thinking they can do some good is just cloud cuckoo land,' he says. The people he talks to at Boeing are 'mortified and terrified'. The stakes are high for Boeing. The beleaguered company has suffered six consecutive years of losses, totalling $36 billion, and by the end of 2024 it had debts of $53 billion. Last year it delivered half as many commercial jets as Airbus, its European rival. Its share price yo-yos, but is presently lower than it was five years ago even though Ortberg is seen as a considerable improvement on his predecessors. Boeing also faces looming challenges in the form of Trump's trade tariffs, which will adversely affect its foreign markets and supply chains, and the Pentagon's drift away from traditional military hardware like fighter jets towards drones and AI. Moreover it is waiting for the Federal Aviation Administration's approval of three new models of aircraft. Time and again Trump has shown himself to be capricious and is renowned for nursing grudges against those who cross or fail him. Although his instinct would probably be to support a storied American company like Boeing, that could well change if it fails to deliver the ultimate symbol of his great power while he is still in the Oval Office. Trump could make life extremely difficult for Boeing, says Aboulafia. 'He's a volatile character with not a lot of economic sense, so being on his wrong side is potentially disastrous when you depend on open trade and government contracts.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
