US President Trump unveils new Air Force One, a converted Qatari jet

JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md, June 20, (AP): US President Donald Trump on Friday showed off the new Air Force One, a formerly Qatari-owned jumbo jet that has been converted into the official US presidential aircraft. The new aircraft eschews the Kennedy-era robin’s egg blue exterior of the old plane for a bolder look, with the underbelly of the plane painted navy blue with a red stripe above it.

The plane's left side, where the president boards, features the presidential seal, while the tail of the aircraft has a massive American flag on it. "This plane was transformed into a flying White House at a level of luxury that nobody has ever seen before,” Trump said from inside the massive Joint Base Andrews hangar, as a couple hundred assembled Air Force personnel looked on.

He spoke after stepping off the new plane in a dramatic flourish, as his signature tune "God Bless the USA” played. He confirmed that he would be taking the new jet to the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, next month and indicated he would be returning to China "at some point,” presumably a reference to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit that China is hosting in November.

His return from the Group of 7 summit in France this week was the last planned trip aboard the old Air Force One, he said. "Now, when we land at airports in London and in Germany and different places, nobody tops this one, and that’s the way we have to have it for our country,” Trump said, noting that the colors and the design were to "my taste, I will say." He added that the new Air Force One will do a flyover during the July 4 celebrations next month.

The gift from Qatar is serving as a "bridge” aircraft to carry the president until the new planes ordered directly from Boeing arrive. That is currently slated for 2028. The administration formally accepted a luxury Boeing 747 jet from Qatar last year to be used as the presidential airplane, despite questions about the ethics and legality of accepting such an expensive gift from a foreign government.

Trump has insisted in the past that he would not fly around in the Qatari jet once he leaves office and said it would instead be donated to a future presidential library. Trump on Friday said the US was in a "little bit of a logjam” as they awaited the delivery of the new jets directly from Boeing, which had originally been scheduled for 2024 but have been delayed.