The gifted aircraft will replace the Boeing 747-2 that served presidents for more than 30 years.
US President Donald Trump unveiled a $400 million luxury Boeing 747-8 that was donated by the Qatari government and will serve as the new Air Force One.
The presentation took place at the Andrews military base near Washington passed.
“This has never happened before. It is very unique. It is the most luxurious plane in the world,” said the US president.
According to Trump, the new aircraft will lead the air parade over Washington on July 4, the 250th anniversary of the founding of the country.
According to a statement released by the Air Force, the aircraft will begin “test flights” in the coming days.
According to the statement, the plane is “protected and equipped with the most advanced technologies necessary to fulfill the requirements of the presidential mission.”
It was reported that a Boeing 747-8 previously used by Lufthansa was purchased so that pilots and maintenance personnel could train on the new model.
The gifted aircraft will replace the Boeing 747-2 that served presidents for more than 30 years. Trump returned from Europe on Thursday in an old plane, and White House staff posted farewell messages to the “aging” plane on social media.
Trump rejected criticism that accepting a gift of a plane from a foreign government would pose a conflict of interest or a security threat, saying, “Why should our military, as well as our taxpayers, pay hundreds of millions of dollars when it can be obtained for free from a country that wants to reward us for a job well done? A person who does not accept this gift on behalf of our country can only be a fool,” he wrote last year on the Truth Social network.
According to Trump, the Qatari aircraft will be used until the delivery of new Boeing aircraft to the Air Force in 2028.
The cost of the new Boeing 747-8 aircraft is estimated at 400 million dollars. Retrofitting the aircraft for the presidential fleet is also estimated to cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
