US President Donald Trump said Sunday that his new Qatari-gifted Air Force One jet would need to be sent away for about a month to be “maxed out,” following reports of security concerns during a trip to Turkiye.
Trump took his first flight on the retrofitted Boeing 747-8 on July 1, but questions arose after he flew home aboard an older jet from a NATO meeting in Ankara on July 10.
The New York Times reported that the new plane lacked the same security countermeasures, including anti-missile defences. Its reporters were subsequently subpoenaed by the Trump administration.
“It has a lot of capability, but as I understand it, in about a month or so, they’re going to send it to have it be maxed out,” Trump told reporters when asked why he was still flying on a plane without full defensive capabilities. “So they’re going to be sending it, and they’ll have it be maxed out. It’ll take about a month.”
Trump, speaking after flying back to Washington from the World Cup final in New Jersey, did not explain how the plane would be “maxed out.” The 80-year-old Republican has previously downplayed any suggestion of problems with the new aircraft. He originally said he had sent the plane ahead from the Turkiye summit to an air base in Britain so that service members could see it.
Concerns over a foreign gift
Qatar’s royal family donated the luxury airliner last year after Trump complained about the condition of the two ageing jets that have served as the US presidential plane since 1990. Critics have raised a range of ethical, constitutional and security concerns about the gifting of an aircraft worth hundreds of millions of dollars by a foreign power like Qatar.
The plane features a new Trump-designed livery in red, white and navy blue, a change from the previous white and light blue scheme. Two brand-new Boeing Air Force One jets are due to be delivered later this decade after a series of delays and cost overruns.
