Next Air Force One Will Sport New Paint Scheme

For the first time since the Kennedy administration, Air Force One will be getting a new paint job. The repaint comes on the heels of a larger plan to replace the current two Air Force One aircraft. A deal was struck back in February with Boeing for two Boeing 747s to serve as the new primary presidential airplanes at a cost of $3.9 billion. The original development plan for the two new airplanes came with a completion date of 2024, but the president requested that they be built by 2021.

"Boeing gave us a good deal. And we were able to take that," President Trump told CBS. "But I said, 'I wonder if we should use the same baby blue colors?' And we're not." The current light-blue paint scheme of Air Force One was designed by industrial designer Raymond Loewy in 1962, during the presidency of John F. Kennedy.

"Red, white and blue," President Trump told CBS. "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 be red, white and blue, which I think is appropriate."

The White House official website describes that any aircraft carrying the president can be called Air Force One. Yet, the two 747-200B (the Air Force designation is VC-25A) aircraft are synonymous with the Air Force One call sign.

"I hate to say this, it's going to be a long time," Trump told CBS. "It's a very complex project. But by the time it gets built, you're going to have many presidents, hopefully, use it and enjoy it."