“The U.S. Air Force has taken its first concrete step toward buying Boeing 747-8s to replace the current Air Force One,” the Pugent Sound Business Journal reports.  

“As the only U.S. manufacturer of a four-engine commercial transport – the type of jet the government prefers to use to replace Air Force One – Boeing has long been the presumed winner. But the Air Force doesn’t want costs for the new jet, which will require substantial modifications, to balloon.”