It’s his new favorite thing.
Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
Everyone knows that you’re not really somebody unless you have your own jumbo jet. Donald Trump already had a crappy vintage narrowbody Boeing 757 which he christened Trump Force One. And he also has a Cessna Citation, which is fast, but is the kind of small private jet any basic billionaire would own. Trump’s work plane as president, however — a 747 widebody which doubles as a White House with wings, is much more befitting a size for someone of such enormous self regard. But Air Force One wasn’t his, it was just a big plane he got to borrow from the U.S. government for four years at a time, and on top of that, he was stuck with its dated technology, more mundane interior, and a modest light blue paint job which doesn’t stand out on the tarmac.
Not anymore.
Now President Trump not only gets to fly in the posh new-money luxury to which he is accustomed, but aboard his very own Air Force One. On Wednesday morning, Trump took his inaugural flight in the 14-year-old $400 million Boeing 747-8i luxury jet which the Qatari royal family gave to him last year (after, Trump said, he expressed his admiration for the plane and asked the emir of Qatar if he could borrow one for a few years).
The jet, which was custom built by Boeing for the royal family and has a luxury interior designed and installed by Italian design firm Cabinet Albert Pinto, has since been retrofitted by the Air Force. That process likely cost at least $400 million, and possibly more than $900 million, and included adding sophisticated security features and a new Trump-selected red, white, gold, and navy exterior color scheme. The interior was “minimally changed,” according to the Air Force, which said it prioritized operational readiness during the retrofitting, which may have cost more than $900 million. So apparently Qatar’s ultra luxury was preserved, but the artwork was swapped out, (U.S.) presidential seals were added to the seatbelts, and it’s now been hardened against attack by the U.S. military. (There is also lie-flat seating with built-in massagers and personal Apple TVs, including for the wretches in the press compartment.)
“You can do two things: You can low key it or you can show it,” America’s renovator-in-chief told reporters on Wednesday morning on the tarmac next to the plane, while emphasizing how much better the new Air Force One was than the previous ones, which he said were too old and a national embarrassment, particularly when parked next to 747-8s around the world. “We’re very proud of it. The country is very proud of it,” Trump said.
Sure, Qatar technically gave the plane to the U.S., American taxpayers paid for the retrofitting, and it does not technically belong to Trump, but it’s still essentially his. Unless Trump is for some reason unable to finish his second term in office, no other sitting president may ever get to use it. This specific plane is being used a “bridge” aircraft between the older generation of Air Force Ones (747-2) and the next generation (two custom-built 747-8s) which, if there aren’t any more delays, Boeing is supposed to deliver to the Air Force before Trump leaves office. At that point, per numerous reports, the Trump-Qatari Air Force One is expected to be taken out of service and donated to the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Foundation. That means that at the very least, it will ultimately end up as an exhibit in his presidential library in Miami — an outcome Trump himself has alluded to (and per the AI-slop design preview he released, there’s going to be a special big room for showcasing one). It’s also abundantly clear both how much Trump really loves this specific Qatari 747-8i model, and how little he cares about perceptions of self-dealing, so he may try to finagle a way to keep flying in it after leaving the White House (unless Qatar just gives or sells him another one, which they may be less inclined to do after paying such a high price for the war Trump launched against Iran).
At the special unveiling of the rebranded Air Force One last month, Trump exited the plane to his rally theme song, Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA,” then crowed about how this specific jet “is considered the world’s most luxurious plane” that “was built at a level that will probably never be seen again.” It would be a “flying White House at a level of luxury no one has ever seen before,” he said. He likes it so much, he’s having it featured in the big D.C. flyover to celebrate America’s 250th.
Press hasn’t been allowed to take photos of the interior of the new plane, so we’re left with reporters’ descriptions and images shared by Trump officials:
And look, there’s a living duck in this framed photo of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool:
Trump may never get his new ballroom for the White House, but he seems to have gotten one for the sky.
