Trump unveils Qatari-gifted Boeing 747 as new Air Force One

Donald Trump on Friday unveiled a Boeing 747-8 that will serve as the new Air Force One, giving the first public look at a $400 million jet the U.S. accepted as a gift from the Qatari government last year. Standing beside the aircraft at Joint Base Andrews, the presidential airport outside Washington, Trump called it, "This is considered the world's most luxurious plane," as he descended the stairs from the hulking jet inside a hangar.

The Air Force said the plane has received a new red, white and blue livery and final government modifications, and that it has entered service to provide secure continuity for the commander in chief. Before presidential use, it will undergo "commissioning flights," the final check before it carries a president. Trump said the hangar had to be specially constructed because the aircraft is larger than the previous plane, underscoring how much the redesign and retrofitting have been driven by the jet’s size and security requirements.

The aircraft is being used as a "bridge" plane until Boeing delivers the presidential jets that were directly ordered from the company, now slated for 2028 after earlier delays from an original 2024 target. It will replace the military-grade 747-200 that has served presidents for more than 30 years, a fleet that has long carried both symbolic and national-security weight. The Air Force also said taxpayers paid to lease another 747-8 for pilot and maintenance training and built a full three-dimensional mock-up of the interior to prepare crews for the new aircraft.

The gift has triggered sharp legal and ethical criticism because foreign aircraft, especially one offered by a foreign government, raise questions about influence and constitutional limits around the presidency. Legal experts told PolitiFact that accepting the plane likely implicates the Constitution’s foreign emoluments clause without congressional approval, while Democratic lawmakers Jamie Raskin, Dan Goldman and Ritchie Torres called the move unconstitutional or corrupt and sought ethics review. Trump said he would be "stupid" not to accept the plane, argued it was a gift to the Department of Defense rather than to him personally, and said it would not be used after he leaves office before going to his presidential library.

Trump said he planned to take the aircraft to the NATO summit in Ankara next month and to return to China later in 2026. The rollout turned a luxury aircraft into a test case for transparency, security and the precedent set when a foreign government places a $400 million asset at the center of the presidency.