President Donald Trump shared his excitement for the inaugural flight of the new Air Force One, a luxury jet donated by the government of Qatar, saying the US “couldn’t build a plane like this.”
“I’m excited about the first flight,” he told reporters ahead of his flight to North Dakota for an America 250 celebration.
“They just completed it. They made it appropriate for a president, that means the security and all of the different bells and whistles they put on. Very complex now, but it’s really quite something,” he added.
Trump, who is expected to use the plane until a new US-built plane is finished in about two years, said there has “never been a plane like it.”
“Frankly, we couldn’t build a plane like this because we wouldn’t be willing to spend the kind of money necessary. They spent top dollars,” he said of the Qataris.
Trump unveiled the new jet earlier this month at Joint Base Andrews, calling it “the world’s most luxurious plane.”
White House officials posted social media farewells to the heavily modified Boeing 747-200, which has flown as Air Force One since 1990.
Three 747-800s are being modified as VC-25Bs to fill the role of Air Force One, including the luxury jet donated by the government of Qatar to bridge the gap between the old planes and the two additional planes Boeing is modifying that won’t be done for roughly two more years.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
