The Qatari super-luxury jet that Donald Trump wants to use as a temporary Air Force One was spotted flying over Texas and Oklahoma this week with a new paint job and call sign.
The Middle Eastern country donated the used Boeing 747-8 to the Pentagon in July amid criticism over the ethics, unclear cost, legalities and security risks of accepting such a “gift” from a foreign government and upgrading it for Trump’s use.
The 13-year-old jet has been in Texas since last April as the Air Force and contractors hustle to have it ready for Trump by summer.
On Thursday afternoon, the jet flew from its current home at the L3Harris Technologies Inc. site at Greenville Municipal Airport—Majors Field on a looping tour that took it over Tulsa, Okla.; Amarillo; Abilene; and Waco before heading back. It was the jet’s first flight since February, according to flight tracking services.
The jet flew with the call sign “Vader 01,” the Dutch and Afrikaans word for father and the name of original villain in the “Star Wars” franchise, Darth Vader.
A plane spotter in Oklahoma got photos of the jet flying over Tulsa. It appeared to be completely white instead of the gray and burgundy used by the Qatari royal family.
L3Harris, a major defense contractor, reportedly got a classified deal to fix up the craft, but the Defense Department hasn’t confirmed that or revealed the value of the contract. The Air Force has said it expects delivery of the jet “no later than summer 2026.”
Various sources have estimated it would cost between $400 million and $1 billion to revamp the 747 with the security and communications upgrades needed to make it safe for presidential use. That bill is going to the Air Force, which has said it intends to siphon leftover funds from its Sentinel nuclear missile program to pay for the retrofit.
The service has said the Qatari jet, as well as two 747s being upgraded into Air Force Ones at Port San Antonio, will have the red, white, gold and blue paint scheme that Trump prefers over the robin’s egg blue and white paint scheme that jets in the executive fleet have had since the ’60s.
Trump has long griped about the age of the current Air Force One fleet and last year looked to the Qatari jet as a fill-in as he awaits the two new 747s still being worked on in San Antonio.
It’s estimated that the program to deliver the two new craft will cost taxpayers $5.64 billion by the time it’s complete. Boeing said it now expects to deliver the first of the two jets in mid-2028, four years later than originally promised.