Trump’s first – President Donald Trump took his first flight on a new Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday, a $400 million Boeing 747 reportedly donated after he asked the Qatari royal family for a gift. The aircraft’s intended long-term use—Trump plans to take it
When President Donald Trump stepped toward the doorway at Joint Base Andrews in suburban Maryland and prepared to climb aboard his new Air Force One. it wasn’t just another trip. It was the first flight on a Boeing 747 he says he received through an extraordinary request—one that required hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded upgrades and. according to Trump. a plan to keep using it after he leaves office.
“I’m excited about the first flight. It’s something — nobody’s ever seen anything like it,” Trump told reporters as he prepared to take off on Wednesday.
The plane is described as a $400 million jumbo jet that Trump solicited from the Qatari royal family. While the Defense Department says the aircraft was donated to the United States government. Trump has indicated he intends to take the Boeing 747 with him when he leaves office. A video rendering of his presidential library that Trump posted to social media in March shows a 747 in the lobby.
The modifications needed to make the aircraft serve presidential and military roles are expected to be enormously expensive. Reports have pegged the modification costs—installation of military and communications equipment—at as high as $1 billion. Yet when asked about the work cost on Wednesday, Air Force officials told HuffPost the total cost was “classified.”.
Trump was asked how much the work cost and declined to say before explaining the process he described for securing the jet.
“It cost very little relative to what it would cost if we did it a different way. So. this was a gift from a country that’s treated us very well. and they’re an ally of us over in the Middle East. Qatar. And I went to Boeing; I said who has the best one. They said Qatar, there’s never been a plane like it. Frankly. we couldn’t build a plane like this because we wouldn’t be willing to spend the kind of money necessary. ” Trump said.
He then laid out his rationale for requesting the aircraft’s use.
“I went to Qatar; I said. I’d like to use it for a period of time because the other ones. as you know. are under construction. they’ll be here in two years and because the plane is 35 years old. So, I said I’d like to use it. And the emir. Tamim. who’s a great gentleman. he said. ‘No. no. I’d like to make a contribution to the country.’”.
The stakes are both practical and political. because the replacement effort Trump describes traces directly to decisions made during his first term. The delay in replacing the existing Air Force One planes—two 747s put into service under President George H.W. Bush—was caused by Trump’s claim that Boeing was cheating the government on its replacement contract. To meet Trump’s demands. the Air Force in his first term purchased two finished but mothballed 747s from a defunct Russian airline. The Air Force then learned that tearing down two airframes to install necessary modifications would be far more costly than building the planes from scratch.
But Wednesday’s flight also landed amid a separate and legal tension that critics have raised. Legally, government officials are not permitted to solicit a gift from a foreign entity at all. The issue has been complicated by the U.S. Supreme Court’s broad presidential immunity ruling in a 2024 case stemming from Trump’s Jan. 6, 2021, coup attempt.
Still, Trump’s own words have kept the focus on what he believes he obtained and what he intends to do with it.
Before this first flight, Trump had already been showing the jet off to the public. During a visit to North Dakota for the opening of the Theodore Roosevelt presidential library, he bragged about the aircraft as an “inaugural flight,” describing it as Air Force One after 37 years.
“This is a very exciting thing for me, and number one, I have to tell you, because this was an inaugural flight of a certain airplane called Air Force One, after 37 years,” he said. “And it’s a great plane.”
For now, the new Air Force One is in the air under Trump’s watch—but the questions around how it was secured, what it will ultimately cost taxpayers, and whether it will be treated like a presidential possession rather than strictly government property are still unfolding in parallel.
Donald Trump Air Force One Boeing 747 Qatar Tamim Joint Base Andrews Defense Department taxpayer-funded upgrades classified costs presidential library
So the taxpayers paid for the upgrade but it’s “a gift” lol.
I’m confused, is it donated or is it his? Like, how can he take it when he leaves office if it’s for the US gov. Seems like a loophole.
The article says “classified” cost which basically means they spent a billion and don’t want anyone to know. And he’s acting like Qatar sent him a toy airplane.
Wait… didn’t Air Force One get replaced already? Why are we upgrading a 747 with comms and military stuff if it was “only” requested? Also the Qatar part sounds super shady like quid pro quo or whatever, but maybe I’m mixing it up with that other story. Either way $400 million + “classified” upgrades is wild.