Secret Service steers Trump to older Air Force One after Turkey summit

The Secret Service advised Donald Trump to leave Turkey on an older Air Force One after his NATO summit stop, steering him away from the newly retrofitted plane he had flown in on. The switch came as Trump traveled home amid renewed U.S.-Iran strikes and heightened security concerns in the region.

Trump arrived in Turkey aboard the newer Boeing 747-8 that Qatar gifted to the United States last year and that L3Harris Technologies refitted for presidential use. For the departure leg, he flew instead on an older baby blue VC-25A, then later switched back to the newer jet in Britain for the trip home. People briefed on the situation said the older aircraft was recommended as a precaution.

Trump addressed the change on Truth Social, saying he would use the older plane “for old time’s sake.” He also said the newer aircraft would stop at RAF Mildenhall so U.S. service members stationed there could tour it before he flew on it. That added another public stop to a trip already shaped by security calculations and scrutiny over the replacement aircraft.

The legacy presidential fleet remains the two specially configured Boeing 747-200B VC-25As that have served as Air Force One since 1990. The United States Air Force says the first VC-25A, tail number 28000, flew as Air Force One on Sept. 6, 1990, and that the presidential air transport fleet consists of tail numbers 28000 and 29000. Those aircraft have carried presidents from George H. W. Bush through Bill Clinton and beyond, long after the Air Force began looking toward a successor.

The episode has drawn fresh attention because the newer aircraft is still being watched closely after its rapid conversion from a Qatari-gifted jet into a presidential plane. The fact that Trump flew into Turkey on the newer aircraft, then left on the older VC-25A and changed back again in Britain, underscored how little margin there is for error in a program meant to protect the presidency at its most exposed moments.