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Air Force to purchase bankrupt Russian airline's planes for Air Force One: report

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W

WedgeX

Banned
The Air Force will reportedly attempt to lower costs on a pair of new presidential planes by buying two Boeing 747 jetliners abandoned by a bankrupt Russian airline.

Service officials are ”working through the final stages of coordination to purchase two commercial 747-8 aircraft," Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek told Defense One.

The deal could be announced as soon as this week, though the Air Force is not expected to release the contract value, according to the report.

Officials said the Air Force is getting a "good deal" on the planes, which are, on average, listed at $386.8 million each.

The two planes, which are slated to be altered to become Air Force One presidential aircraft, were originally ordered in 2013 by Russia's second-biggest airline Transaero, which went bankrupt in 2015.
Click to expand...

Courtesy the Hill. Original report from Defense One.

How is this real.

edit:

How, I asked? Well, additional information from Defense One makes it pretty clear:

The 747s that will be transformed for Presidential transport were originally ordered in 2013 by Transaero, which was Russia's second-largest airline until it went bankrupt in 2015. Boeing built two of the four jets in the order, but the airline never took ownership of them.

Typically, an airline makes a 1 percent down payment when it orders a plane, then pays the balance in installments. Transaero did not fulfill its scheduled payments, according to an industry source.

”Aeroflot absorbed most of Transaero's existing fleet, but declined to pick up Transaero's 747-8I orders worth $1.5 billion at list prices," FlightGlobal reported last month.

So Boeing flight-tested the two completed jets and put them in storage. Flight tracking data shows that the aircraft, numbered N894BA and N895BA, were last flown in February, to the Southern California Logistics Airport in Victorville, a sprawling facility in the Mojave Desert whose hot, dry air prevents corrosion. This ”boneyard" is largely occupied by retired commercial jets that still bear the liveries of Delta, FedEx, British Airways, and Cathay Pacific. Other planes, unmarked, sit with their engines shrinkwrapped in anticipation of one day returning to flight.

Boeing has been paying to store the two 747s in new condition while searching for a buyer, which allowed the Air Force to negotiate a good deal for them, sources said. It's similar to the way car dealers discount new vehicles from the previous year when new models hit the lot.
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P

ponpo

( ≖‿≖)
The two planes, which are slated to be altered to become Air Force One presidential aircraft, were originally ordered in 2013 by Russia's second-biggest airline Transaero, which went bankrupt in 2015.

Boeing flight-tested and put the two jets in storage while it searched for a buyer, allowing the Air Force to negotiate a good deal for the planes, sources told Defense One.
Click to expand...

What are people shocked by? The planes were just ordered by the airliner, not flown by them.

Do you guys think they are old KGB planes stuffed with microphones?
 
D

Dubbedinenglish

Banned
Only thing that will remain is the airframe, by time it's AF1 it won't share anything with a civilian plane. Actually a pretty smart thing. It's a crazy headline though lol
 
C

Cybit

FGC Waterboy
Uhh...the headline is bullshit.

They're buying two airplanes that were planning to be sold to a Russian airline, but the airline collapsed, so the planes have been used as flight test planes at Boeing the whole time. The 747-8 has a bunch of whitetails unfortunately, and it's...actually pretty fucking smart of them to pick up a whitetail (aka a plane that has no buyer) for cheap and start building the new AF1 now rather than paying full price for a brand new plane.
 
F

FrankCanada97

Roughly the size of a baaaaaarge
The 747-8 is the newest model of the 747, I can see the logic of retrofitting an unused passenger version over building one from scratch.

B7478Ia.jpg
 
W

WiiredShawn

Member
This is one of those transactions that, I imagine, wouldn't be newsworthy under any other circumstances, but for Trump, it's just a funny addition to the dumpster fire that is his presidency.
 
J

JettDash

Junior Member
OP did you leave important parts of the story that show the headline to be sensationalist BS on purpose?
 
A

Arrogant Bastard

Banned
Maybe I'm wrong but I don't see how this is a bad thing or even remotely suspect. The planes never were in Russian hands and the money isn't even going to Russia. Why are people knee-jerking on this?

This is a non-story.
 
W

WedgeX

Banned
Cybit said:
Uhh...the headline is bullshit.

They're buying two airplanes that were planning to be sold to a Russian airline, but the airline collapsed, so the planes have been used as flight test planes at Boeing the whole time. The 747-8 has a bunch of whitetails unfortunately, and it's...actually pretty fucking smart of them to pick up a whitetail (aka a plane that has no buyer) for cheap and start building the new AF1 now rather than paying full price for a brand new plane.
Click to expand...

Edited to reflect that.

JettDash said:
OP did you leave important parts of the story that show the headline to be sensationalist BS on purpose?
Click to expand...

The Hill did, and I bought it.
 
S

Slermy

Member
ponpo said:
What are people shocked by? The planes were just ordered by the airliner, not flown by them.

Do you guys think they are old KGB planes stuffed with microphones?
Click to expand...

People are shocked because that key piece of information was left out of the OP and no one is reading the article.

EDIT: Nevermind, OP was updated.
 
C

Cybit

FGC Waterboy
Yeah...I'd guess they probably saved around 50-100 million a plane or so doing this. Also this pushes up the timetable on the new AF1s by a couple of years potentially.

Note: The old plan for AF1 was to take a commercial passenger 747-8 and modify it. So they're getting the exact same plane they would have had they not done this.
 
D

danthefan

Member
Cybit said:
Yeah...I'd guess they probably saved around 50-100 million a plane or so doing this. Also this pushes up the timetable on the new AF1s by a couple of years potentially.

Note: The old plan for AF1 was to take a commercial passenger 747-8 and modify it. So they're getting the exact same plane they would have had they not done this.
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BUT RUSSIA
 
JordanN

JordanN

Banned
Don't worry. It wont be rigged with any hidden spy cameras at the last minute. Russia would never do such a thing.

FLzUj37.jpg
 
K

Kin5290

Member
Hahaha gotta love media illiteracy and clickbaity journalism. This is an amazing thread.

We need an OP edit and title change before a lemming train of posters comes freaking about OMG RUSSIA.
 
D

danthefan

Member
JordanN said:
Don't worry. It wont be rigged with any hidden spy cameras at the last minute. Russia would never do such a thing.

FLzUj37.jpg
Click to expand...

This thing will be stripped down to it's nuts and bolts and be rebuilt before any president gets within a hundred miles of it. I know you're joking but nothing will be hidden on it and if anything was hidden on it it'll be found.
 
S

Squire

Banned
Two questions:

1) What are the chances that money will disappear?

2) What are optics? Asking for a friend.
 
R

reckless

Member
danthefan said:
This thing will be stripped down to it's nuts and bolts and be rebuilt before any president gets within a hundred miles of it. I know you're joking but nothing will be hidden on it and if anything was hidden on it it'll be found.
Click to expand...

Well that and the whole thing about how they've been in the U.S the whole time with Boeing...

Fake news!
 
EviLore

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
This does not sound like a story. Planes weren't owned or utilized by Russian interests at any point, No Russian interests appear to get anything out of the Trump admin buying these particular planes. No real angle for anything dirty to be plausible involving foreign collusion or financial corruption here from what I can see? Just the government buying some planes that were sitting on Boeing's lot unsold for a discount, after a deal to sell them to a Russian airline fell through.
 
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