It will cost hundreds of millions of dollars to retrofit a Qatari luxury Boeing 747 jetliner to fly as the new Air Force One, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said on Thursday.
The motorcade of U.S. President Donald Trump is parked next to a 12-year old Qatari-owned Boeing 747-8 that Trump was touring in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., February 15, 2025. Reuters/Kevin Lamarque
It will cost hundreds of millions of dollars to retrofit a Qatari luxury Boeing 747 jetliner to fly as the new Air Force One, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said on Thursday.
Last month, the U.S. military accepted the gift from Qatar to transport U.S. President Donald Trump.
Retrofitting the 13-year-old plane, which has a luxurious interior, will require significant security upgrades, communications improvements to prevent spies from listening in and the ability to fend off incoming missiles, experts say.
"It's probably less than $400 million to retrofit that aircraft," Meink told lawmakers during a Congressional hearing.
Democratic lawmakers have said it could cost more than $1 billion to retrofit the plane.
Meink said a lot of those costs are ones the Air Force would have experienced anyway.
"I think there has been a number thrown around, on the order of a billion dollars, but a lot of those costs associated with that are costs that we would've experienced anyway," he said, adding that this included buying additional platforms for training and spares.
Legal experts have questioned the scope of laws relating to gifts from foreign governments that aim to thwart corruption and improper influence. Democrats have also sought to block the handover.
Qatar has dismissed concerns about the aircraft deal. Trump has also shrugged off ethical concerns, saying it would be "stupid" not to accept the 747-8 jet.
The Air Force One program has faced chronic delays over the last decade, with the delivery of two new 747-8s slated for 2027, three years behind the previous schedule.
Trump toured the Qatari Boeing plane in February at a Florida airport.
Reporting by Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart
In a post published Monday on Truth Social, President Donald Trump issued what amounts to a sweeping diplomatic ultimatum to the Arab and Muslim world: normalise with Israel through the Abraham Accords, or forfeit any role in the Iran agreement he is working to finalise.
Lebanon's Maronite Patriarch Béchara Raï used his Sunday homily to call for the success of ongoing negotiations between Lebanon and Israel, renewing his longstanding plea for Lebanese neutrality and urging "collective responsibility" in the face of chaos and poverty gripping Beirut.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told U.S. President Donald Trump Israel would remain free to act against threats in Lebanon during a phone call about an emerging agreement between Washington and Iran on Saturday, an Israeli source said.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.