A luxury jetliner gifted by Qatar is currently sitting on a tarmac at an airport in San Antonio waiting for a specialized overhaul to become the next Air Force One.
The United States officially accepted the Boeing 747-8 on Wednesday, and the Air Force has been tasked to upgrade it to be used as a new plane for President Trump, according to the Defense Department.
Democratic lawmakers and independent watchdogs say the gift violates the Constitution's Foreign Emoluments Clause, which bans government officials from taking gifts from foreign countries. Trump says it would be a gift to the DOD and that he would not use it after leaving office, when it would be kept at his presidential library.
The plane is worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Trump said he would be "stupid" to turn it down, suggesting that it could be converted quickly to be ready for use as a presidential aircraft. But experts warn that no matter how luxurious the plane is, it would take years to rework it to meet the current standards set for Air Force One.
"It just seems to me an interesting dream that President Trump has to bring this plane online very quickly," says Ken Walsh, a journalist who has written a book on Air Force One, after covering the White House for decades and riding on the famed aircraft more than 200 times.
"Anybody who knows anything about these planes and the history of Air Force One knows that these are difficult to construct, and the technology is always improving. They don't just show up at your airport. They have to be built," he says.
Two new Boeing 747-8 planes are currently being specially customized to become the next generation of Air Force One — a project that has been in the works for years and subject to delays. The new Boeing planes were supposed to be ready by last year but now aren't expected for several more years.
Richard Aboulafia, managing director of AeroDynamic Advisory and an aviation analyst, told NPR's Morning Edition that some of the responsibility for the delays lies with "poor execution" by Boeing. "But some of that is just due to the huge amount of requirements and work needed to take a commercial jet and wire it up for war."
He said Trump's plan that the gifted plane could be ready soon was a "fantasy."
What makes Air Force One, Air Force One?
The term "Air Force One" technically applies to any plane carrying the president. But in more common usage, it refers to special Boeing 747-200B planes equipped with high-tech communications and defense systems.
"It's a mobile White House," says Doug Birkey, executive director of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. "All the functions of the president have to be executed in it, no matter what circumstances, including warfare."
Air Force One planes feature an "incredibly robust command and control suite," he says, and have defenses against a range of threats, from surface-to-air missiles to a nuclear blast.
"It's meant to withstand the very worst days," he says.
Beyond that, Birkey says, is the unique layout of the plane itself, with a very specific seating and office configuration to keep the president as safe as possible and able to continue the job in the air.
Loading...
Much of the specifics of Air Force One aren't publicized, but a technical order accidentally published online by the Air Force in 2006 gave a look at the basic floor plan of the three-level plane as it was then — the bottom level for cargo, the middle level for essentially all the presidential functions, and the top, smaller level for the crew and communications.
"In that middle level is everything, as I say, for the president's convenience, to help him do his job," says Walsh, including a large presidential suite with office space able to do live video and audio broadcast, a medical area equipped for basic surgery, a conference room, two galleys able to prepare up to 100 meals at once, several areas for Secret Service agents, and seating in the very back for the media.
What's planned for the next generation of Boeing Air Force One planes?
The plan to replace the current Air Force One fleet has been long in the works, with Boeing winning the contract back in 2016 under then-President Obama. Trump finalized a deal in his first term in 2018.
The two current planes have been in use since 1990, and their age is starting to show — one of the reasons Trump has been eager to put pressure on Boeing to finish the new generation of planes. But experts like Birkey say it's not just about aesthetics.
"There are serious issues about parts availability and all of that," he says, adding that there are very specific security requirements about what can actually go in the plane that make it even harder to replace failing pieces. "You're not going to an aircraft junkyard and just grabbing a spare generator or something like that."
The new generation will be a newer Boeing model, the 747-8, which is also the same model of the gift plane from Qatar. Compared to the 747-200, the 747-8 emits around 16 less tons of carbon per trip, can travel about 1,000 nautical miles further in range, and is the fastest commercial jet in the world, according to Boeing. It's also wider and longer than the current model in use.
Much of the details of the planes haven't been made public, but there are planned upgrades to the electrical and communications systems, military and combat-ready electronics, more self-defense systems, and autonomous systems for baggage loading and entering and exiting the plane, according to documents from the Department of Defense.
What would the gifted plane from Qatar need?
The gifted 747-8 plane from Qatar is certainly opulent, with big leather seats and wood inlay, multiple lounges, a bedroom suite and private office, according to marketing materials saved on the Internet Archive. The Qatari government purchased the plane in 2012, and had been trying to sell it for several years without success.
But the specs say nothing about security or defense systems on board — beyond an anti-intrusion system for when the aircraft is left unattended — and the communications system that's listed is for basic entertainment.
Birkey says, in terms of luxury, the plane from Qatar probably looks and feels better than the current or planned Air Force One planes.
"But past that, things like a comms suite, self protection, all that — I doubt it has any of that in it right now," he says. "And installing those is not an easy thing. I mean, you have to deconstruct the aircraft a fair amount to do that."
Loading...
In a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Tuesday, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink told lawmakers the plane would need "significant modifications."
Both experts and members of Congress have expressed concern that Trump might decide to roll back current security requirements for Air Force One in order to get the plane ready faster.
There could also possibly be listening devices or malware on the plane, as it's been sitting in a foreign country for more than a decade.
"You can't rule out the presence of bad actors in this whole process," says Aboulafia, pointing out that this would make the conversion process even more complicated.
"Basically, to be absolutely certain that there were no listening devices on board, you'd have to rip this plane down to its constituent elements."
What could it cost?
Trump has repeatedly stressed that the plane from Qatar was free, but several experts NPR talked to agreed that it will likely end up costing a significant amount of money to outfit it properly to current Air Force One standards.
A U.S. official who requested anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly about the matter told NPR the conversion would likely cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
Aboulafia says that should concern taxpayers, since the current program to upgrade Air Force One was a fixed contract signed with Boeing — meaning that all the costs of extending the project are being borne by Boeing and its investors.
"Most likely there will be money spent on this jet, probably a lot more than what the jet is worth," he says. "All of this amounts to, you know, frankly, a waste of taxpayer dollars in terms of this additional vanity project."
NPR's Tom Bowman and Deepa Shivaram contributed to this report.
Copyright 2025 NPR