Exclusive-US aims for Fourth of July to deploy Qatar-gifted jet as Air Force One

By Mike Stone

WASHINGTON, May 6 (Reuters) – The U.S. Air Force is targeting a Fourth of July delivery for a Boeing 747 gifted by Qatar that would join the Air Force One fleet in time for the nation’s 250th anniversary, a U.S. official and a person familiar with the program said.

The White House accepted the luxury jet from Qatar in 2025 and asked the Air Force to rapidly upgrade the aircraft to presidential standards, with L3Harris tapped to carry out the overhaul. If the company meets its deadline, President Donald Trump will have a new presidential aircraft in time for the national celebrations.

The person said there were efforts to possibly deliver the jet three weeks earlier to align with Trump’s birthday on June 14, ahead of the July 4 deadline.

The Qatari gift has drawn criticism from Democrats and advocates of good government, who warned it was a conflict of interest that could influence presidential decisions. Trump has dismissed complaints of accepting the 13-year-old airplane with a $400 million list price, saying it would be “stupid” to turn down the offer. There are two modified 747-200B aircraft in the current specialized Air Force One fleet. Any Air Force plane on which the U.S. president travels is called Air Force One.

Retrofitting the luxury plane offered by Qatar’s royal family requires security upgrades, communications improvements to prevent spies from listening in and the ability to fend off incoming missiles, experts have said.

An Air Force spokesperson said, “The aircraft is on schedule to deliver this summer.”The aircraft has completed modification and flight testing and is now being painted, the Air Force said on Friday.

OFFICIAL REPLACEMENT JETS DELAYED

The official Air Force One replacement program — Boeing’s effort to convert two 747-8 aircraft into next-generation presidential jets — is four years behind schedule, with delivery not expected until mid-2028. That risks leaving Trump without his prized new planes before his term ends in January 2029.

Boeing is locked in a fixed-price contract worth $3.9 billion in 2018, but costs have since ballooned to over $5 billion, with the company posting $2.4 billion in charges against earnings from the project. In a bid to steady the ship, Boeing in 2025 hired Steve Sullivan, a former Northrop Grumman executive who worked on the B-21 bomber program, to lead the effort.

The Air Force recently unveiled a new paint scheme in red, white, dark blue and gold for its executive airlift fleet — reviving a color palette Trump had long pushed for. An earlier version of that design was scrapped in 2022.

The new livery will be applied to the VC-25B — the military designation for the Boeing 747-8 — replacing the white and two-tone blue scheme that has been in place since the Kennedy era. Four Boeing 757-200s used by the vice president, cabinet members and other senior officials will also be repainted.

In December, the Air Force purchased two former Lufthansa 747-8i aircraft for $400 million — one to serve as a dedicated trainer for aircrew and maintainers, and one to be used for spare parts as it prepares to eventually retire the current fleet, which has been in service since 1990.

(Reporting by Mike Stone in Washington; Editing by Chris Sanders and Matthew Lewis)