This jet, which could become the most valuable gift ever received from a foreign government, is expected to be customised to serve as Air Force One. A new commercial 747-8 is valued at around $400 million.
According to media outlet ABC, the gift is expected to be officially announced this week during President Trump’s visit to Qatar as part of his Middle East tour.
Late on Sunday, Trump seemed to confirm the proposal in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social.
“So the fact that the Defense Department is getting a GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE, of a 747 aircraft to replace the 40 year old Air Force One, temporarily, in a very public and transparent transaction, so bothers the Crooked Democrats that they insist we pay, TOP DOLLAR, for the plane,” he wrote.
Trump’s Air Force One
Trump has been exploring alternatives to replace the ageing Air Force One due to ongoing delays by Boeing in delivering the two new planes he ordered during his first term.
A U.S. Air Force official told Congress last week that Boeing had proposed finishing the planes by 2027.
In February, Trump inspected a Qatari-owned Boeing jet parked at Palm Beach International Airport in Florida, near his Mar-a-Lago resort.
At the time, the White House said the president did so to get a better understanding of how the updated Air Force One planes would be configured.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and Trump’s top White House lawyer, David Warrington, reportedly drafted an analysis concluding that the donation of the aircraft would be “legally permissible” as long as its ownership is transferred to Trump’s presidential library before the end of his term, according to ABC.
