{"id":773804,"date":"2026-07-02T07:41:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T07:41:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/773804\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T07:41:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T07:41:19","slug":"look-inside-us-president-donald-trumps-new-580m-air-force-one-jet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/773804\/","title":{"rendered":"Look inside US President Donald Trump’s new $580m Air Force One jet"},"content":{"rendered":"

US President Donald Trump has taken his first flight on the new Air Force One, an aircraft gifted to the US by Qatar.<\/p>\n

Members of the president’s entourage posted photos on social media on the $US400 million ($580 million) jet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The aircraft’s first voyage flew to remote western North Dakota, where Trump attended the opening of a museum honouring former US president Theodore Roosevelt.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The aircraft, a gift from the Qatari Royal Family, sparked debate<\/a> among politicians, who raised security and ethics concerns.<\/p>\n

\"Steven<\/p>\n

Assistant to the president and White House director of communications Steven Cheung posted this photo with members of the Trump family and press secretary Karoline Leavitt.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On board its first official flight were his two sons Eric and Donald Junior and their wives, Bettina and Lara.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Assistant to the president and White House director of communication Steven Cheung posted photos of the maiden voyage on X.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Karoline<\/p>\n

Karoline Leavitt aboard the new plane before take-off.\u00a0 (Supplied: Instagram)<\/p>\n

The pictures show an ornate office and conference table and shelves lined with leather bound books.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt posted similar photos, calling it a “truly unforgettable day”.<\/p>\n

She posted several Instagram stories which showed her and others having brunch onboard served in gold-rimmed crockery.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Brunch<\/p>\n

Brunch plate posted by Karoline Leavitt shows the first meal served on Trump’s new plane.\u00a0 (Instagram: Karoline Leavitt)<\/p>\n

Ham and Swiss cheese croissants and seasonal fruit were seen on the Air Force One menu posted by Ms Leavitt.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Boeing 747 jetliner, so luxurious it is known as the flying palace<\/a>, was accepted by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth after the president visited Qatar in May, 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Pictures<\/p>\n

Pictures taken from the new presidential plane by inaugural passengers.\u00a0 (X: Steven Cheung)<\/p>\n

Qatari officials initially denied the jet was being gifted and instead called it a “possible transfer of an aircraft for temporary use as Air Force One”.<\/p>\n

\"Ambassador<\/p>\n

Ambassador and Chief of Protocol of the United States Monica Crowley.\u00a0 (X: Monica Crowley)<\/p>\n

At the time, the Defense Department said it would work to “ensure proper security measures and functional-mission requirements are considered”.<\/p>\n

\"Memorabilia<\/p>\n

Memorabilia to commemorate the first flight of the Boeing 747 jetliner.\u00a0 (X: Steven Cheung)<\/p>\n

Democrat politicians estimated it would cost more than $US1 billion ($1.55 billion) to convert the plane to Air Force One standards and tried to block the handover.<\/p>\n

But Mr Trump shrugged off ethical and taxpayer concerns and said it would be “stupid” not to accept the jet.<\/p>\n

Asked about the cost to taxpayers before boarding, Trump said the gifted plane cost “very little relative to what it would cost if we did it a different way”.<\/p>\n

\"Donald<\/p>\n

Donald Trump exits his new Boeing 747 gifted by Qatar.\u00a0 (Reuters: Evan Vucci)<\/p>\n

“We’re very proud of this, the country is very proud of it,” Mr Trump said, adding the older Air Force One “didn’t look appropriate for our country”.<\/p>\n

“They made it appropriate for a president, that means the security and all of the different bells and whistles they put on, very complex stuff,” he said.<\/p>\n

The previous Air Force One airplanes entered service in 1990.<\/p>\n

The Air Force One program faced chronic delays over the last decade, with the delivery of two new 747-8s slated for 2027, three years behind the previous schedule.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US President Donald Trump has taken his first flight on the new Air Force One, an aircraft gifted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":773805,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,84,41,39,42,40,3281,2489],"class_list":["post-773804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-trump","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=773804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/773805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=773804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=773804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=773804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}