The WSJ is reporting that President Trump will get his new Qatari-gifted Air Force One this summer, and it will replace the 40-year-old air craft he’s currently using.
According to the reporting, the interior will largely remain as lavish as it was the day Qatar gave the aircraft to Trump. But the state-of-the-art security overhaul is costing over $400 million to ensure the president can run the country from the air.
Here’s more from WSJ:
When the Qatari royal family acquired a luxury jet for its private fleet more than a decade ago, the Boeing 747 was outfitted with the lavish furnishings and ornate adornments that would befit one of the world’s wealthiest families.
Now, as the jumbo jet is expected to become President Trump’s own this summer, officials say the plane’s lavish interior will look remarkably similar.
The jet has undergone a $400 million overhaul to prepare it for the president. Those modifications, however, haven’t centered on aesthetics, but rather top-secret communications gear that would enable the commander in chief to run the country from the skies.
Alterations to the interior have focused on removing the Arabic-language exit signs and the contemporary artwork once enjoyed by the Qatari royals. But the oversize leather seats, plush couches and even the faux library bookcases are all staying, albeit with U.S. presidential seals now affixed to the walls, officials said.
The description is the first public accounting by the Air Force on its efforts to overhaul the Boeing 747 as the president’s new ride.
“By and large, the airplane that we’re getting is in the same condition from an interior perspective,” Gen. Dale White, the four-star Air Force officer tasked with the high-profile project last year, said in an interview.
Trump didn’t provide the Air Force direction on the interior, Air Force officials said, although the president did select the red, white and blue design that will be painted on the exterior.
Officials said a firm timetable on delivery hasn’t been set. The plane has completed flight testing, though, and is expected to arrive at Joint Base Andrews outside of Washington, D.C., this summer.
The plane’s posh interior will be notably more opulent than the current Air Force One, which is known for its smaller dated domestic business-class seats and utilitarian conference rooms.
“The level of detail that the foreign nations put into their head-of-state airplanes are very different than the approach that the United States uses, which is a lot more utility focused,” White said.
Air Force officials stressed that security was a paramount concern.
“This is going to be an airplane that’s going to carry the president of the United States,” White said. “We did not take any shortcuts as it relates to making sure security was exactly what it needed to be.”
Trump has taken a keen interest in buying new jets to serve as Air Force One since his first term in the White House, keeping a model of the new aircraft in the Oval Office.
The two current Boeing 747s used for Air Force One are nearly 40 years old, entering service during the administration of President George H.W. Bush. They are expensive to operate and break down more frequently, as one did in January not long after Trump departed Washington for Davos.