Delivery Update: Here's When The New Qatari Air Force One Jet Could Arrive

In May of 2025, the Qatari royal family donated a Boeing 747 jumbo jet worth some $400 million to the United States government. It was viewed as a temporary bridge plane that could be used until the two new Boeing VC-25Bs scheduled to replace the pair of nearly 40-year-old Air Force Ones are completed.

The deal for these two new planes was made all the way back in 2018 at a fixed cost of $3.9 billion. Boeing has claimed that a host of setbacks (including supply chain issues and a lack of skilled labor) have continued to push the timeline further out from the original 2024 delivery date to an expected mid-2028 delivery. Furthermore, the company stated that it will lose about $2 billion on the deal. As if to prove new planes were needed, the Air Force One on which the President was recently flying for his trip to Davos, Switzerland, encountered a "minor electrical issue" (via CBS News) and had to turn around.

However, before the President of the United States can use the Qatari-gifted 747, it needs to be retrofitted, which includes inspecting the entire plane from tip to tail for any existing security threats or spying devices. Trump had stated the plane would be ready as early as February 2026, but the Air Force announced in January it would be ready to go in summer 2026 at the latest, which is still a very speedy turnaround when compared to Boeing's issues.

Although the Pentagon officially accepted the jet in May 2025, the Air Force didn't announce its retrofitting until September. What's more, no official statement was ever made about who exactly was conducting the retrofit, and what exactly was being done to the plane. However, several media sources have reported seeing the aircraft at the facilities of defense contractor L3Harris in Texas.

The current Boeing VC-25As, which have been in use since George H.W. Bush was President, can refuel in flight and even feature built-in self-defense measures. Given the quick turnaround, it's anticipated that the Qatari plane won't have either feature. Speaking to Congress, the Secretary of the Air Force, Troy Meink, did say that converting a civilian aircraft into an Air Force One "will take significant modifications" (via CBS News). What those changes are remains a mystery, as the Air Force has declined to comment on what is being done to make it a presidential-worthy aircraft, but would almost certainly require hardened defenses, electronic countermeasures, and allow for encrypted communications.

Estimates for the retrofit ran as high as $1 billion, but Meink said it would cost less than $400 million and be completed in less than a year. The money used to pay for the retrofit came from the LGM-35A Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile program, which wasn't used in 2024 as expected. It's unknown whether the Qatari 747-8 will receive an official designation, as it'll only serve as an interim Air Force One. Trump said it will be decommissioned when he's no longer President and donated to his library.