Air Force One’s Last Ride: White House Awaits New Qatari Jet

The White House said an emotional goodbye this week to one of its longest-serving aircraft, marking what officials are calling the final flight of an Air Force One that has carried American presidents for 35 years. In its place: a $400 million Boeing 747-8i jumbo jet, donated by the royal family of Qatar, now undergoing its final preparations before debuting as the new presidential aircraft.

White House communications director Steven Cheung captured the moment in a pre-dawn social media post, sharing a photo of the president’s outgoing plane alongside the caption “The Last Ride.” Presidential Personnel Office Director Dan Scavino followed with a tribute video, writing: “I have been fortunate to fly around the world on this iconic plane for 5 1/2 years — of the 35 years it has been serving U.S. Presidents… THANK YOU.”

A Long-Awaited Replacement

The current Air Force One fleet — two modified Boeing 747-200B series aircraft — has been in service for more than three decades and has shown its age in recent months, including a mechanical scare earlier this year when President Trump’s flight to Davos for the World Economic Forum turned around shortly after takeoff due to what the White House described as a “minor electrical issue.” Trump completed that trip on a smaller backup aircraft.

Boeing’s contracted replacement jets, the long-promised VC-25B aircraft, have faced repeated delays, with delivery now not expected until 2027 and 2028. That gap created an opening for the Qatari donation, first floated by ABC News in May 2025 and accepted by the Pentagon under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shortly afterward, despite immediate pushback from lawmakers and watchdog groups over the ethics, legality, and security implications of a foreign government gifting a U.S. president an aircraft worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Since being accepted, the jet — now officially designated the VC-25B Bridge Aircraft by the Air Force — has undergone extensive modification at a facility in Texas. According to a CNN report, the retrofitting process required stripping the plane down completely, checking for foreign surveillance devices, and hardening its communications systems to ensure the president can securely command U.S. military operations from the aircraft if necessary.

The Air Force has confirmed the jet, which uses the call sign VADER01, has completed multiple test flights, including missions tracked over Texas and Oklahoma. It has also been repainted in a new red, white, and blue livery designed by Trump himself during his first term — a scheme that will eventually be applied across all three aircraft in the executive airlift fleet.

When Will Trump Fly It?

The White House has not officially confirmed a launch date for the new Air Force One, but multiple outlets have reported the administration is eyeing a high-profile debut. NBC News reported that Trump was considering taking his first flight aboard the Qatari jet to Mount Rushmore for an event scheduled around July 3, though sources cautioned the plan had not been finalized at the time of reporting.

An Air Force spokesperson told reporters the service remains “committed to expediting delivery of the VC-25 bridge aircraft in support of the Presidential airlift mission, with an anticipated delivery no later than summer 2026” — a timeline that now appears to be holding.

The Controversy Hasn’t Faded

Despite the jet nearing operational readiness, the underlying controversy around its acquisition has not disappeared. Congressional Democrats and ethics watchdogs have repeatedly raised concerns about a sitting president accepting a luxury aircraft gift from a foreign government, questioning both the constitutional implications and the steep cost of converting the plane for secure presidential use.

The White House has consistently defended the donation as a pragmatic solution to Boeing’s delivery delays. White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told reporters that mechanical issues with the current fleet only reinforced the administration’s case for accelerating the transition, telling Fox News Digital that such incidents “proved President Trump was right again” about the need for a new plane.

For more background on the donation’s origins and the security retrofitting process, CNN’s full report on the jet’s delivery timeline is available at CNN’s coverage of the Qatar-donated Air Force One jet — read more on CNN.

What Comes Next

For now, the outgoing Air Force One’s final flight closes a chapter that spans seven presidencies and 35 years of service. The Qatari-donated jumbo jet’s debut — whenever it formally happens — will mark a rare moment in presidential history: the first time a sitting U.S. president has flown aboard a gifted foreign aircraft as the nation’s primary airborne command post.

Whether that transition happens quietly or with the kind of fanfare a Mount Rushmore flight would generate, the White House has made clear that after years of delay, mechanical scares, and political controversy, the new Air Force One era is finally here.