In the spring of 2025, we learned how President Trump wasn’t happy with the state of the Air Force One fleet, which consists of modified Boeing 747s that are referred to as the Boeing VC-25. While a new Air Force One fleet is under development, there have been huge delays, and Trump wanted a new jet during his term. Well, that’s now one step closer to becoming a reality, as this plane will soon be entering service.
In this post:
Trump’s new Boeing 747-8 has now been delivered!
On Friday, June 19, 2026, Trump showed off his new “toy” at Joint Base Andrews, which has just been delivered. This is a Boeing 747-8 that was previously owned by the Qatari royal family. The plane will now undergo some commissioning flying, before it’s able to carry the president. However, the Air Force notes that the plane is already “safe, secure and equipped with the most advanced technologies necessary to meet the requirements of the presidential mission.”
The Air Force claims that it prioritized operational readiness over aesthetics, leaving the “interior layout minimally changed.” That’s funny, because the interior is way nicer than in the old Air Force One, and for that matter, I think a Middle Eastern royal and Trump have similar interior design preferences. During the unveiling, Trump even bragged about how “this plane was transformed into a flying White House at a level of luxury that nobody’s ever seen before.”
The plane has also received Trump’s preferred red, white, and blue livery, a huge departure from the historic white and baby blue livery that was on Air Force One. Trump also talked about how “a normal president wouldn’t do this, a normal president wants to stay away from aircraft, but our country has to be represented properly.”
The timing of this delivery is no coincidence, as it comes just ahead of the 250th birthday of the United States, and the plan is for the plane to do a flyover of Washington DC on July 4.
Of course it’s not the plane as such that’s the story here
What makes this most interesting isn’t that there’s a new plane that’s going to act as Air Force One, but instead, how it was acquired, and what happens with it after (if?) Trump leaves office.
Trump promotes how he got the best deal imaginable for our country, as the $400 million jet was a gift from Qatar, which had some spare “royal” planes sitting around. As he wrote on social media at the time:
“why should our military, and therefore our taxpayers, be forced to pay hundreds of millions of Dollars when they can get it for FREE from a country that wants to reward us for a job well done. Only a FOOL would not accept this gift on behalf of our Country.”
Now, let’s ignore the conflict of interest of having a foreign (let alone non-democratically elected) government making a gift like this to the “country,” and the potential conflict of interest that creates.
Was this really a “deal” for taxpayers? Well, let’s look at the facts. First of all, hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent updating the plane, so that it has the equipment required to carry the president. As you’d expect, Air Force One isn’t just a typical plane in terms of the safety equipment onboard.
Okay, but that’s a long term investment in our country, right? Not so much, due to what happens after he leaves office, which should be in early 2029. This isn’t a gift to the United States, but instead, it’s a gift to Trump. So the idea is that he’ll get to keep the plane, and it will go into his presidential library. Now, I’m not sure what exactly a new plane is going to do there, and I can’t help but wonder if he really won’t devise a way to fly on this plane after he leaves office. But maybe that’s just a conspiracy theory.
Either way, if we actually care about America and its taxpayers, you’d think the plane would stay around with the Air Force, so that it could be used by future presidents, right? If nothing else, there’s huge value to the engines and other spare parts, which taxpayers will otherwise be on the hook for. After all, we also recently saw the Air Force purchase two former Lufthansa Boeing 747-8s, which will be used for presidential fleet support. Those are costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, when this plane could otherwise serve that function in the future as well.
For what it’s worth, the long term plan is for there to be two purpose-built planes that can act as Air Force One. However, those are years behind schedule, and billions over budget. While the current timeline is that they should enter service in 2028, that’s far from a sure bet. One certainly wonders what will happen if they’re delayed beyond early 2029, and Trump takes his plane with him…
Bottom line
President Trump is clearly overjoyed to be getting “his” new Air Force One, a $400 million gift from Qatar, with hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars also being spent on the retrofit to get it ready for flying the president.
It goes without saying this is controversial — not only is this a gift from a foreign government, but it’s also going to Trump’s presidential library when he leaves office, rather than staying with the Air Force. Americans might be struggling to make ends meet, but at least we can be happy knowing that the plane has a “level of luxury that nobody’s ever seen before,” and that therefore our country will be “represented properly.”
To my fellow Americans, how are you feeling about this — proud, or really super duper proud?
The updated service manual alone for the flying palace cost the Air Force 84 million . If he wants to to take that with him, he should pay for it. I'm sick of the gaslighting that it was free.
Of course the idiot wants to take it with him. I predict that won't happen.
#predictthegrift
This will never operate as Air Force 1.
An aircraft originally operated by a foreign government will never pass the security requirements to be AF1 and by the time these requirements are met Trump will be out of office.
I predict you are wrong. I'll bet $50 it will. You in? (I despise t-rump, so it ain't that).
Gross.
Ironic that if the initial order for the two VC-25Bs were not canceled, it would've been delivered by now.
I cannot accept a gift from any company or anyone >$50.00 yet this functionally illiterate, grifting, pedophile continues to rape the country and enrich himself, family and cronies... OY!
Funny when a “points and miles” blog has a more unhinged headline about this unveiling than the mainstream media that is also mostly anti-Trump. Perhaps this too is a symptom of the end times of points and miles.
What exactly about this headline hurts your feelings, Sel?
My feelings aren’t hurt. It’s sad enough that news and Hollywood and sports and everything has become highly partisan and divisive - why points and miles blogs too? Can’t we just bond over devaluations and being lucky enough to score F on JL or something?
Click-bait!
Maybe go somewhere else.
That’s not very inclusive.
I believe there are two issues here:
1. Trump is a crook and a grifter.
2. The process by which the government bids and procures equipment such as airplanes is bloated, inefficient, and corrupt.
Our government cannot perform basic functions.
Nice paint .
The flying flag image on the vertical stabilizer makes it look like a kid’s toy. The whole thing just lacks class. Keep the OG scheme. It’s iconic. Everyone knows that it’s AF1 just by looking at the livery. Not this one.
The war with Iran hasn’t ended. Straits of Hormuz closed. He’s turned the White House into a bordello and construction site. The reflecting pool he believes he beautified is an algae filled disaster. He’s falling asleep and breaking wind all the time.
Wait, the White House is a bordello? Maybe I should stop saying no to the invites.
"He’s falling asleep and breaking wind all the time."
Don't forget audibly (yes, audibly) shitting in his always-already-full diaper.
If Qatar was hoping for long term economic benefits from this gift, that ship has sailed. ( and if that ship has oil - not sailing much at all recently ).
Qatar is not a "ship" .
For “Ship” read rhetorical.
Qatar is not a "rhetorical" .
"Qatar is not a "ship" ."
It absolutely IS a ship, moron. As are Dubai and Egypt.
Qatar is not a "ship moron" .
Setting aside the corruption and politics for a second. I have read that the dark blue paint on the bottom creates heat issues with sensors and electronics. Also, how can this plane be modified to anywhere near the necessary security and survivability standards so quickly while the dedicated aircraft are years behind and way over budget?
I'm curious about the retrofit timeline as well. If we can get this plane up to spec this quickly why are the other two so far behind. The only thing I can think is that this really is not up to proper spec and it's the usual bs.
Interesting on the paint causing problems if true. Hopefully they didn't use the same guys who did the reflecting pool for that work...
Of course it is not up to spec. I fear gor the hundreds of people not named DJT who gly in it. But, the extra risk is probably small.
> Hopefully they didn't use the same guys who did the reflecting pool for that work...
...or one could hope that's the exact same guys doing the work.
Has anyone found a high quality assessment of likely difference in capabilities of the 'future' (long term modifications 747-8s) that are severely delayed and this one that will be entering service quickly? Can this one do mid-air refueling?
No , it does not need mid-air refueling . It can always divert if it is low on fuel . Greenland comes to mind .
"Greenland comes to mind ."
That's a great point! Other diversion options are Poland, Latvia, Australia, Chile, Namibia, and Mexico.
This one cannot do mid-air refueling - retrofitting this in would require a very significant amount of work. I find it interesting the new VC-25Bs, the replacement AF!s, are also not being spec'd with mid-air refueling. They dropped it due to cost constraints as again it's a lot of work to add this to planes already built.
I see.
It would be very helpful to know the marginal capabilities over the delayed 747-8s versus this one.
I do suspect it's a defense-swamp-contracting boondoggle.
Will be sad to see this one taken to a library instead of continue serving especially if the other ones aren't ready yet.
No, and the new ones won't be able to do that.