Boeing CEO says Musk 'helping in a big way' on timing of Air Force One planes

Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg on Thursday said Elon Musk, the head of its space business rival SpaceX, is "helping us a lot" in navigating through delays in delivering Boeing's Air Force One presidential jet.<br/>Ortberg also told an investor conference that he expects top U.S. aviation regulators to visit Seattle soon, where the planemaker's strongest-selling 737 MAX jet is produced. Ortberg, who took the helm of Boeing six months ago, is trying to grow production of the embattled planemaker's MAX and 787 jets to at least 38 a month, while sorting contracts that hit its defense unit with pre-tax charges of $1.7b in the fourth quarter. Ortberg told the Barclays Industrial Select Conference that Boeing is making progress with the help of Trump's cost-cutting ally Musk in improving the delivery time, which will eliminate the risk of continued cost overruns. "Elon Musk is actually helping us a lot in working through the requirements...so that we can move faster and get the president those airplanes delivered," Ortberg said. "And you know he's a brilliant guy so he's able to pretty quickly ascertain the difference between technical requirements and things that we can move out of the way and he's helping us in a big way." Earlier this week, a senior administration official said the Air Force One program may be further delayed until 2029 or years later due partly to supply chain problems. Trump has said he is not happy with Boeing due to delays in delivering Air Force One planes, adding his administration might have to "do something else." Separately, Boeing said on Thursday it had named Jeff Shockey executive vice president of government operations. He will lead the planemaker's global public policy efforts, including federal operations among other things.<br/>