{"id":737286,"date":"2026-07-01T17:15:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T17:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/737286\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T17:15:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T17:15:12","slug":"trump-flies-on-new-air-force-one-gifted-from-qatar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/737286\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump flies on new Air Force One gifted from Qatar"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump<\/a> on Wednesday is taking his maiden voyage<\/a> on a new Air Force One<\/a> \u2014 a retrofitted Boeing 747 worth $400 million gifted by Qatar<\/a> that embeds his personality more deeply into the institution of the American presidency.<\/p>\n

Gone is the trademark light blue hull that helped Air Force One blend into the sky. The refurbished jet is painted to Trump\u2019s preferred color scheme of a navy belly and red and gold stripes. It has the luxury features that the president believes a commander-in-chief\u2019s entourage should have \u2014 plush carpets, lie-flat seats, wood paneling and a presidential seal on the seat belts, according to reported tours of the plane.<\/p>\n

Trump told reporters that he was proud of the luxurious plane. \u201cYou can do two things: You can low-key it, or you can show it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"President<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before boarding Air Force One, Wednesday, July 1, 2026, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before boarding Air Force One, Wednesday, July 1, 2026, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)<\/p>\n

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Reporters are generally not permitted to take photos on the plane unless Trump is present. But on Wednesday, Trump administration staffers posted images of the plane\u2019s interior on social media.<\/p>\n

White House communications director Steven Cheung posted a photo of aides gathered around a circular table that had off-white place mats and leather captain\u2019s chairs. Monica Crowley, the chief of U.S. protocol, posted a picture of herself perched on a leather couch between a pair of Air Force One throw pillows. Mounted on the wall behind her was a framed photo of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial.<\/p>\n

The jet is carrying Trump to North Dakota to see the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library<\/a>, its first official visitor ahead of its opening on the nation\u2019s 250th anniversary<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The newly designated Air Force One is ready as President Donald Trump arrives to board, Wednesday, July 1, 2026, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)<\/p>\n

The newly designated Air Force One is ready as President Donald Trump arrives to board, Wednesday, July 1, 2026, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)<\/p>\n

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The gift from the Middle Eastern power raised ethical concerns, but Trump saw the plane as a necessary replacement to the 35-year-old planes that had previously ferried him as president.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The newly designated Air Force One, left, with president Donald Trump on board, takes off on the runway as the old version of the plane is in the foreground, at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Wednesday, July 1, 2026 (AP Photo\/Luis M. Alvarez)<\/p>\n

The newly designated Air Force One, left, with president Donald Trump on board, takes off on the runway as the old version of the plane is in the foreground, at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Wednesday, July 1, 2026 (AP Photo\/Luis M. Alvarez)<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis is a gift from a country that has treated us very well,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n

The new jet will only temporarily be in the nation\u2019s service, as Boeing is expected to deliver in 2028 long-delayed planes that will permanently serve as Air Force One. Trump, a Republican, has said in the past that the Qatar plane would end up in a presidential library.<\/p>\n

The Air Force has said that it did little to change the cabin layout of the plane and that it spent less than $400 million on security upgrades.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump on Wednesday is taking his maiden voyage on a new Air Force…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":737287,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,28,3506,3505,12,793,3138,6660,3,2807,111,15275,17572,74802,139549,67978,267317,795,21,19,22,20,25,24,800,965],"class_list":["post-737286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-business","tag-dc-wire","tag-district-of-columbia","tag-donald-trump","tag-general-news","tag-government-and-politics","tag-nd-state-wire","tag-news","tag-north-dakota","tag-politics","tag-qatar","tag-qatar-government","tag-steven-cheung","tag-theodore-roosevelt","tag-thomas-jefferson","tag-trump-hub","tag-u-s-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-washington-news","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=737286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737286\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/737287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=737286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=737286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=737286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}