ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE, Md. (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday confirmed off the brand new Air Power One, a previously Qatari-owned jumbo jet that has been transformed into the official U.S. presidential plane.
The brand new plane eschews the Kennedy-era robin’s egg blue exterior of the outdated airplane for a bolder look, with the underbelly of the airplane painted navy blue with a pink stripe above it. The airplane’s left facet, the place the president boards, options the presidential seal, whereas the tail of the plane has a large American flag on it.
“This airplane was reworked right into a flying White Home at a degree of luxurious that no person has ever seen earlier than,” Trump mentioned from inside the huge Andrews Air Power Base hangar, as a pair hundred assembled Air Power personnel regarded on. He spoke after stepping off the brand new airplane in a dramatic flourish, as his signature tune “God Bless the USA” performed.
He confirmed that he can be taking the brand new jet to the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, subsequent month and indicated he can be returning to China “sooner or later,” presumably a reference to the Asia-Pacific Financial Cooperation summit that China is internet hosting in November. His return from the Group of seven summit in France this week was the final deliberate journey aboard the outdated Air Power One, he mentioned.
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI through Getty Pictures
“Now, after we land at airports in London and in Germany and totally different locations, no person tops this one, and that’s the best way we have now to have it for our nation,” Trump mentioned, noting that the colours and the design have been to “my style, I’ll say.”
He added that the brand new Air Power One will do a flyover in the course of the July 4 celebrations subsequent month.
The reward from Qatar is serving as a so-called “bridge” plane to hold the president till the brand new planes ordered instantly from Boeing arrive. That’s at the moment slated for 2028.
The administration formally accepted a luxurious Boeing 747 jet from Qatar final 12 months for use because the presidential airplane, regardless of questions in regards to the ethics and legality of accepting such an costly reward from a international authorities. Trump has insisted previously that he wouldn’t fly round within the Qatari jet as soon as he leaves workplace and mentioned it could as an alternative be donated to a future presidential library.
Trump on Friday mentioned the U.S. was in a “little little bit of a logjam” as they awaited the supply of the brand new jets instantly from Boeing, which had initially been scheduled for 2024 however have been delayed. He recalled asking the emir of Qatar to be used of one in every of their planes.
Alex Wong through Getty Pictures
“See, a traditional president wouldn’t do that. A traditional president needs to avoid plane,” Trump mentioned Friday. “However our nation must be represented correctly.”
The Air Power mentioned in a information launch Friday that any airplane deemed Air Power One “should meet rigorous safety necessities” and that the Qatari airplane “was modified beneath a disciplined engineering strategy that prioritized these precise core capabilities above all else.” The Air Power additionally mentioned “a lot of the earlier head of state inside format” of the airplane was stored intact.
The Air Power has mentioned previously that safety modifications to the jet would price lower than $400 million.
Trump’s efforts to reimagine the presidential airplane date again to his first administration, when he directed that an incoming fleet of recent jets would undertake a coloration scheme that was practically an identical to that of his private airplane. Then-President Joe Biden reversed the choice in March 2023 as an Air Power evaluate recommended that the darker colours might enhance prices and delay supply of the brand new jets, however as soon as Trump returned to workplace, he returned to his desired colours for the airplane.
Different authorities jets that carry different high administration officers may even use the same pink, white and navy coloration scheme, the Air Power mentioned earlier this 12 months.
An Air Power spokesperson, who spoke on situation of anonymity to debate delicate plans, instructed The Related Press that the 2 present planes, referred to as VC-25As, is not going to be retiring. As a substitute, they are going to stay within the fleet till the brand new Boeing planes, known as VC-25Bs, come into service, the spokesperson mentioned.
It’s unclear how the older jets might be used however the spokesperson mentioned that each the Qatari jet in addition to the VC-25As might be accessible to be used and “the Presidential Airlift Group will choose the suitable plane for every mission based mostly on operational necessities.”
Kim reported from Washington. Related Press author Konstantin Toropin contributed to this report from Washington.