U.S. President Donald Trump delivers a speech as he stands in entrance of the VC-25B plane gifted by Qatar that will probably be used as Air Pressure One, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, on June 19, 2026.
Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters
President Donald Trump on Friday confirmed off the brand new Air Pressure 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 previous 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 remodeled right into a flying White Home at a degree of luxurious that no one has ever seen earlier than,” Trump stated from inside the huge Andrews Air Pressure Base hangar, as a pair hundred assembled Air Pressure 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 “in some unspecified time in the future,” 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 previous Air Pressure One, he stated.
“Now, after we land at airports in London and in Germany and completely different locations, no one tops this one, and that is the way in which now we have to have it for our nation,” Trump stated, noting that the colours and the design have been to “my style, I’ll say.”
He added that the brand new Air Pressure One will do a flyover throughout 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 immediately from Boeing arrive. That’s at present 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 concerning the ethics and legality of accepting such an costly reward from a international authorities. Trump has insisted up to now that he wouldn’t fly round within the Qatari jet as soon as he leaves workplace and stated it will as an alternative be donated to a future presidential library.
Trump on Friday stated the U.S. was in a “little little bit of a logjam” as they awaited the supply of the brand new jets immediately 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 among their planes.
“See, a traditional president would not do that. A standard president needs to steer clear of plane,” Trump stated Friday. “However our nation needs to be represented correctly.”
U.S. President Donald Trump applauds as he excursions the VC-25B plane gifted by Qatar that will probably be used as Air Pressure One, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, on June 19, 2026.
Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters
The Air Pressure stated in a information launch Friday that any airplane deemed Air Pressure One “should meet rigorous safety necessities” and that the Qatari airplane “was modified underneath a disciplined engineering method that prioritized these precise core capabilities above all else.” The Air Pressure additionally stated “a lot of the earlier head of state inside structure” of the airplane was stored intact.
The Air Pressure has stated up to now that safety modifications to the jet would value 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 latest jets would undertake a coloration scheme that was almost equivalent to that of his private airplane. Then-President Joe Biden reversed the choice in March 2023 as an Air Pressure evaluate recommended that the darker colours might improve 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 Pressure stated earlier this 12 months.
An Air Pressure spokesperson, who spoke on situation of anonymity to debate delicate plans, informed The Related Press that the 2 present planes, often called VC-25As, won’t be retiring. As an alternative, they’ll stay within the fleet till the brand new Boeing planes, known as VC-25Bs, come into service, the spokesperson stated.
It’s unclear how the older jets will probably be used however the spokesperson stated that each the Qatari jet in addition to the VC-25As will probably be obtainable to be used and “the Presidential Airlift Group will choose the suitable plane for every mission primarily based on operational necessities.”
