Don’t Tell DOGE: Trump Demands a New Air Force One by Fall
Frustrated by delays at Boeing, the president has commissioned a contractor to turn a former Qatari government jet into his new Air Force One.
Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
President Donald Trump is willing to fly on a secondhand jet if it means he can have a modernized Air Force One by the fall, sources told The Wall Street Journal.
Trump has reportedly grown frustrated with Boeing‘s years-long delays in delivering a pair of new jets for the executive branch’s use, so he commissioned a contractor to bring a plane formerly used by the Qatari government—a Boeing 747—up to speed.
The total cost of preparing the jet is not known, but it is likely to be substantial. A contract for the delivery of two new Boeing jets to replace Air Force One and Air Force Two, signed during Trump’s first term, will cost taxpayers a whopping $3.9 billion.
The Boeing 747 used by Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani for a visit to Britain in December.
Chris Radburn/Reuters
Those planes are nowhere near being ready for delivery, however, and may not be for the duration of Trump’s second term.
Trump, who has redecorated the Oval Office “Russian oligarch style” with gold accents and has requested other notable changes to the White House, is not content with flying around on an Air Force One that has been in service since the George H.W. Bush administration.
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Trump said in 2018 that he would like to see Air Force One ditch its iconic baby blue, white, and dark blue livery, which has been in use since the 1960s, and instead use just red, white, and blue.
The current Air Force One sports a light blue, white, and dark blue livery, which has been used since the 1960s. Trump wants the next iteration of the plane to be red, white, and blue.
MediaNews Group via Getty Images
“Boeing gave us a great deal,” Trump told CBS at the time. “But I said, ‘I wonder if we should use the same baby blue colors?’ And we’re not.”
He added in that same interview, “Air Force One is going to be incredible. It’s going to be the top of the line, the top in the world. And it’s going to be red, white, and blue, which I think is appropriate.”
It is not yet known if the retrofitted Qatari government plane will be red, white, and blue. The White House did not immediately respond to a list of questions emailed by the Daily Beast.
President Donald Trump met with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani in the Oval Office in 2018.
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
Trump has “regularly asked for updates” on the status of his new plane, sources told the Journal. Before it can be commissioned for Trump’s use, the ex-Qatari jet must be fitted with communications and defense systems that will enable the commander-in-chief to remain secure in the air while the plane also serves as a command and control platform.
Word of Trump’s new jet from Qatar came just a day after reports emerged that the Trump Organization, run by the president’s sons Don Jr. and Eric, struck a deal with the Middle Eastern country to have a luxury Trump-branded golf resort built there.
That golf course—and the accompanying beachside villas, located north of the capital, Doha—will be partially developed by a company called Qatari Diar, which is owned by the Qatari government.
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