- Aircraft joins Air Force One fleet after extensive refurbishment.
- Jet has new red, white, blue and gold colors.
- Trump announces planned visits to Turkey and China.
President Donald Trump got a look at his upgraded Boeing 747, a plane from Qatar, on Friday at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland as the plane neared delivery to join the Air Force One fleet.
The jumbo jet, offered by Qatar as a gift to the president last year, was overhauled by defense contractor L3Harris Technologies and has been tested and painted in a red, white, dark blue and gold color of Trump’s choice.
The addition to Trump’s fleet provides a more modern and luxurious plane in which the president, his aides, security detail and media will travel. The cost of the upgrade has not been disclosed, and it was done so quickly that some experts fear it may not be as safe as the existing Air Force One plane.
The Air Force’s swift action skipped some planned changes to the next-generation presidential jet in order to deliver an interim version sooner, but officials said it was up to the president’s standards.
“The safety and security of the commander in chief is our highest priority,” Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink said in a statement Friday. “From the beginning, we carefully evaluated every requirement to expedite delivery while maintaining the high standards expected of the presidential mission.”
The US government’s acceptance of the luxury 747 from Qatar raised questions about whether it was an inappropriately expensive gift. Trump dismissed criticism of the arrangement, saying it would be “stupid” to turn down the offer.
Retrofitting the luxury jet required security upgrades, communications improvements to prevent eavesdropping and missile defense capabilities, experts said. Democratic senators estimated the conversion could cost more than $1 billion and increase security risks.
The Qatari jet is serving as a bridge plane while Boeing works to deliver two custom-built 747-8s under a $3.9 billion fixed-price contract signed in 2018. That program is four years behind schedule, with delivery not expected until mid-2028 — a delay that risks leaving Trump without a new plane before his term ends in January for the 2000 Boeing20 program. more than $5 billion, with the company posting $2.4 billion in charges against earnings from the project.
The new color scheme marks a departure from the white and two-tone blue design that dates to the administration of President John F Kennedy.
The Air Force revived elements of a red, white and blue palette that Trump previously pushed for but scrapped in 2022 after the service determined that darker colors could cause overheating.
The new red, white, dark blue and gold livery will also be applied to the VC-25B – the military designation for the Boeing 747-8 – and to four modified Boeing 757-200s used to transport the vice president, cabinet members and other senior officials.
Trump announces China, Turkiye visit
President Trump said he will go to Turkiye and make another trip to China sometime in 2026.
“We’re doing a lot of trips. We’re going to Turkiye. We’re going to go back to China at some point in the year,” Trump said at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland as he unveiled the Boeing 747 jet gifted by Qatar that will join the Air Force One fleet.
“President Xi (Jinping) is coming here in September, but we’re going back to a big conference that’s in China,” Trump added.
