The new Air Force One will remain blue and white, Biden decides

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is sticking to a blue and white color scheme for the exterior of the replacement Air Force One aircraft, the first of which is expected to be delivered in four years.

The Air Force announced this late Friday that the light blue of the new model of the modified 747s carrying the President will be a little deeper and more modern than the robin-egg blue of the aircraft versions currently in use.

Boeing modifies two of them 747-800 aircraft which uses the call sign of Air Force One when the President is on board. They will replace the existing fleet of two aging Boeing 747-200 aircraft that the President is currently using.

The choice of the aircraft’s exterior colors follows a previous decision by the administration Scrap a red, white and blue design favored by Donald Trump, Biden’s immediate predecessor. An Air Force review found that the darker colors would increase costs and delay deliveries of the new jumbo jets.

In 2018, Trump directed that the new jets should ditch the iconic Kennedy-era blue and white design in favor of a white and navy blue color scheme. The top half of the plane would have been white and the underside, including the belly, would have been dark blue. A dark red stripe would have run from the cockpit to the stern. The color scheme was almost identical to the exterior of Trump’s personal plane.

The new aircraft, officially known as the VC-25B, will replace the current fleet, known as the VC-25A, which the Air Force says is facing capacity gaps, rising maintenance costs and “parts obsolescence.” Modifications to the successor aircraft include electrical performance upgrades, a medical facility and a self-defense system, the Air Force said.

Delivery of the first of the new planes is scheduled for 2027, followed by the second plane in 2028, the Air Force said.

The current generation of aircraft performed first President George HW Bush, who served from 1989-1993.