Various news services are reporting the Qatari government will donate the use of its royal family’s former Boeing 747-8 executive transport aircraft, as a replacement for the current VC-25 aircraft now used as Air Force One. The Qatari government issued a statement on Sunday saying no final deal has been made to supply the aircraft. Reports have swirled for months that Trump, unhappy with the pace of construction on two multibillion-dollar replacements for those converted 747-200s that went into service 34 years ago, wanted to speed up the process. The Qatari plane visited West Palm Beach in February and was toured by Trump and his wife Melania. Mainstream media are saying the plane is worth $400, million but it’s difficult to estimate its value because of the reportedly luxurious appointments and other potential modifications.
The actual mechanics of the deal remained a mystery until ABC News broke the news that the arrangement will be announced next week during Trump’s tour of the Middle East. ABC is reporting that Attorney General Pam Bondi has cleared the transaction and concluded it will not violate a Constitutional tenet that no government official can accept a gift “from any King, Prince or foreign State.” The plane will reportedly be transferred to the Air Force while Trump uses it for the balance of his term and then it will be donated to his presidential library.
As the Qatari plane was used for the royal family and government officials it may have some security gear installed, but it’s unclear what may be onboard and what the Air Force plans to install for Trump’s use. The plane has reportedly already gone in for some kind of work by L3Harris in Texas but the nature of that operation has not been publicly discussed. It doesn’t seem likely there will be time to install the full complement of communications and hardening systems that are on the VC-25s given that Trump has said he hopes to be using the Qatari plane this coming fall. Today’s reports have mentioned a two-year timeline for retrofitting the aircraft and that might have something to do with comments made by a senior Air Force official last week.
Darlene Costello, the Air Force’s acting acquisitions chief, told a Congressional hearing that the current plan is to have replacement VC-25s in service by 2027, a year before Trump leaves office, according to CNN. Boeing has not so far confirmed Costello’s remarks. It had earlier been reported that Boeing needed at least three or four more years to finish the money-losing project. Those aircraft were supposed to be completed in 2022. Costello said Boeing can speed up work on the new VC-25s as long as the administration agrees to relax security clearance requirements for workers on the planes.
