Air Force One will get a new, Trump-associated paint job, the U.S. military said Thursday, announcing a red, white and blue color scheme for the aircraft expected to serve as the president’s plane. The Air Force said the updated look will be used on aircraft Boeing is modifying for the next Air Force One fleet and also on smaller jets used regularly for other top government officials.
The Air Force said it planned a “red, white, gold and dark blue paint scheme” for the updated jet that will be slated to serve as Air Force One as well as other, smaller aircraft that routinely fly senior officials around the country and abroad. The service also released a rendering of the proposed exterior design.
The military said the rendering matches an airplane model that has been seen in the Oval Office for meetings with foreign leaders, tying the color scheme to a recent display in the White House. The Air Force said the third Boeing 747-8i jet would be painted in the same colors.
The Air Force One color changes are part of a longer-running series of decisions about how the next presidential fleet should look. In 2018, Trump directed that the new jets would switch from a Kennedy-era blue-and-white design to a white-and-navy scheme, with dark red streaking from the cockpit to the tail that the description said was similar to the exterior of Trump’s personal plane.
An Air Force review had suggested darker colors would increase costs and delay delivery of the new jumbo jets, and the military said President Joe Biden reversed the decision in March 2023. The latest Air Force announcement came after Trump, speaking to reporters last month, said “we want power blue, not baby blue,” referring to the current color of the aircraft.
The Air Force said Boeing is modifying two Boeing 747-800 aircraft that are expected to replace the existing fleet of two aging Boeing 747-200 planes now used by the president under the Air Force One call sign when he is aboard. The Air Force said a third 747-8i jet would also receive the updated red, white and blue scheme.
The changes to Air Force One come as the president’s current aircraft arrangements have been in the spotlight for other reasons as well. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth formally accepted a luxury Boeing 747 jet from Qatar last May for use as Air Force One, despite questions about the ethics and legality of taking the expensive gift from a foreign nation.
Separately, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink told lawmakers last June that the security modifications to the jet would cost less than $400 million, the Air Force said, while providing no details about what those changes involve.