President Trump on Friday unveiled a newly converted Air Force One-style jet at Joint Base Andrews, a Boeing 747 provided free of charge by the government of Qatar and now outfitted, he said, as a high-security "flying White House." Painted in a deeper red, white, and blue than the current presidential planes, the aircraft is slated to headline a July 4 flyover in Washington marking the nation's 250th anniversary, which Trump promised would be "the likes of which we've never seen before." He repeatedly touted the plane as unmatched in size and luxury, NBC News reports.
The colors and the design, Trump said, are to "my taste, I will say." The jet is estimated to be worth about $400 million, with security and systems upgrades potentially pushing the total project cost past $1 billion. Qatar's role has prompted bipartisan pushback over security and ethics. The Air Force, which is calling it the VC-25B Bridge, said the plane is now a secure, modified executive platform that will ease strain on the current fleet and will ultimately be transferred to Trump's presidential library foundation after he leaves office.
This plane sports "a level of luxury that nobody has ever seen before," Trump told a couple of hundred Air Force personnel Friday, per the AP. The president said his return from the G7 summit in France this week was the last planned trip aboard the old Air Force One and confirmed that he'll be taking the new jet to the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, next month. The Air Force said the plane next needs to be flown on commissioning flights that allow White House officials to check its mission capability and complete setting up protocols, per Military.com.
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