{"id":1924,"date":"2026-07-08T22:15:02","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T17:15:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=1924"},"modified":"2026-07-08T22:15:02","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T17:15:02","slug":"trump-unexpectedly-switches-back-to-old-air-force-one-sidelining-qatari-jet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=1924","title":{"rendered":"Trump unexpectedly switches back to old Air Force One, sidelining Qatari jet"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-article-body=\"true\" data-body-type=\"bodyblocks\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">By Mike Stone<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">WASHINGTON, July 8 (Reuters) &#8211; President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he will fly from Turkey to Britain on an older Air Force One aircraft, an unexpected switch that \u200craised questions about a retrofitted Boeing 747 donated by Qatar that he unveiled only weeks \u200cago as his new presidential jet.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The trip to Turkey was the first international trip for the new plane.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The switch follows months of \u200bscrutiny over the luxury gift intended to serve as a temporary replacement while Boeing struggles to deliver long-delayed next-generation Air Force One planes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Critics questioned the cost, security and pace of the retrofit.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Trump said on Truth Social that he would use an older Air Force One plane &#8220;for old time&#8217;s sake&#8221; to fly to RAF Mildenhall in \u200cBritain while the new plane visits \u2060the same base so U.S. service members stationed there can tour the aircraft.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The new plane is a Boeing 747 gifted to the United States by Qatar last year \u2060and refitted by defense contractor L3Harris Technologies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The jumbo aircraft has been painted in a red, white, dark blue and gold livery chosen by Trump, marking a departure from the longstanding design used on Air Force One for decades.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The \u200bQatari jet&#8217;s \u200bacceptance had drawn scrutiny. Retrofitting the luxury plane required \u200bsecurity upgrades, communications improvements to prevent eavesdropping, \u200cand missile defense capabilities, experts said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Democratic lawmakers estimated the conversion cost more than $1 billion and raised security risks. The upgrades were completed so quickly that some experts expressed concern the plane may not be as secure as the existing Air Force One aircraft.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">A second aircraft that can operate as Air Force One is always on standby during presidential trips.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Air Force&#8217;s fast-track effort to ready the jet skipped some planned modifications \u200coriginally envisioned for the next-generation presidential aircraft in order to \u200bdeliver an interim version sooner.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Officials have said the plane still meets \u200bpresidential standards, with Air Force Secretary Troy \u200bMeink saying the service &#8220;meticulously evaluated every requirement&#8221; while working to speed up delivery.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Qatari \u200cjet is serving as a bridge aircraft \u200bwhile Boeing works to deliver \u200btwo purpose-built 747-8s under a $3.9 billion fixed-price contract signed in 2018.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">That program is now four years behind schedule, with delivery not expected until mid-2028, a delay that could leave Trump without a \u200bnew, U.S.-built plane before his term \u200cends in January 2029.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Costs on the Boeing program have grown to more than $5 billion, with \u200bthe company booking billions of dollars in charges tied to the project.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">(Reporting by Mike Stone \u200bin Washington; editing by Philippa Fletcher and Howard Goller)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Mike Stone WASHINGTON, July 8 (Reuters) &#8211; President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he will fly from Turkey to Britain on an older Air Force One aircraft, an unexpected switch that \u200craised questions about a retrofitted Boeing 747 donated by Qatar that he unveiled only weeks \u200cago as his new presidential jet. The trip&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1925,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/lo\/mysterio\/api\/7675b031ec671e31427ac3d9e9ecf7e80ddd2690d33dda9fd604708862f06e1b\/lightyear_networkapi\/resizefill_w800_h356;quality_80;format_webp\/https:%2F%2Fmedia.zenfs.com%2Fen%2Freuters.com%2Fb50850a87b70d237a86495f07b0a7b25","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-trending-viral-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1924\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}