The U.S. Air Force said it has completed work to turn a Boeing 747 donated by Qatar into a temporary Air Force One and expects the aircraft to be ready for President Donald Trump to use this summer. In a news release, the service said the jet is currently being painted red, white and blue as crews finish modifications and testing.
Air Force officials said the Boeing 747 will function as a “bridge” until Boeing is able to deliver a pair of new aircraft. The timeline for those replacements, the Air Force said, is now expected in 2028, leaving the modified Qatar plane as an interim option as the current Air Force One fleet continues to fly.
The Air Force’s announcement comes after years of delay and complications for Boeing’s replacement program. Boeing has been retrofitting 747s originally built for a now-defunct Russian airliner, and the company has faced delays tied to issues including the bankruptcy of a critical subcontractor and the challenge of finding and retaining qualified staff for work that requires high-level security clearances.
Air Force One’s current two planes, which the Air Force said have been flying for nearly four decades, rely on a wide set of security capabilities built into aircraft designed from scratch near the end of the Cold War. The Air Force described those features as including countermeasures for nuclear blast effects, anti-missile systems and an onboard operating room, as well as air-to-air refueling capabilities for contingencies.
When the Qatar-donated aircraft was accepted, lawmakers and others raised concerns about ethics and legality, as well as security and the possibility of cyber intelligence. The service’s announcement also renewed attention on the fact that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth accepted the luxury jet about a year earlier despite those questions, according to the report.
The report said the Qatar jet has been described as a “palace in the sky,” with luxurious accommodations and high-end finishes. The Air Force, however, did not disclose the cost of the modifications, while lawmakers suggested last year that the changes could total more than $1 billion.
The report also said Trump has defended the gift as a way to save tax dollars and has said he would not fly in the aircraft during the final part of his term. Instead, Trump said the plane would be donated to a future presidential library, similar to how a Boeing 707 used by President Ronald Reagan was decommissioned and put on display.
In advance of putting the aircraft into presidential service, the Air Force said it leased a 747-8 freighter from Atlas Air between October and February so pilots could get familiar with that variant. The report also said the U.S. purchased two jets from Lufthansa for training and spare parts, and that Boeing stopped building 747s in 2023.
The Air Force did not specify which capabilities were added to the former Qatar jet, and it said the service’s current presidential travel equipment has extensive security measures that it has not detailed for the modified aircraft. With replacement presidential aircraft expected near the end of Trump’s term, the Air Force said the donated 747 will keep presidential travel moving in the interim.