Story highlights The aircraft in question are currently located at an aircraft storage yard in California

President Trump had been fiercely critical of the cost of the new Air Force One program

(CNN) The US Air Force is for now abandoning the idea of building new aircraft to become Air Force One from scratch due to concerns over costs. Instead they are considering reconfiguring a pair of jumbo Boeing 747-8 planes originally built for a defunct Russian airline that went bankrupt in 2015, according to a US official and another source close to the discussions.

The Russian airline never received the planes, according to two people familiar with the jets. They were flight tested but never delivered and instead the planes sat in storage. The source says at this point the "US Air Force believes it may be cheaper to convert these existing planes than build new ones."

One source and the US official stressed that the deal is not final.

But a handshake agreement on the aircraft could come within days, according to a person familiar with the deal, and a formal contract is expected to follow in the weeks to come.

The pair of aircraft were originally built in 2015. The Russian carrier went bankrupt and ceased operations in October 2015.

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