Retrofitted Qatari 747 Flies as Air Force One for the First Time, Air Force Reaffirms Under-$400M Cost Claim Despite $934M Diversion Already Reported

The Qatari-gifted Boeing 747-8 took its first flight as Air Force One on July 1, 2026, carrying Trump from Joint Base Andrews to North Dakota for a visit tied to the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library ahead of the nation's 250th anniversary. The jet had been repainted from the traditional light blue scheme to a navy belly with red-and-gold stripes matching Trump's preferred livery, with interior upgrades including lie-flat seats, wood paneling, and presidential seals on seat belts. Trump said, 'You can do two things: You can low-key it, or you can show it,' calling the aircraft 'a gift from a country that has treated us very well.' The flight came about six weeks after Bloomberg reported the Air Force had reaffirmed, on May 13, 2026, its estimate that retrofitting the jet would cost 'less than $400 million' -- the same figure Air Force Secretary Troy Meink first gave Congress in June 2025 -- even though the New York Times had already reported in July 2025 that $934 million was quietly diverted from the Sentinel nuclear missile program toward the retrofit, and Meink himself told Congress the total cost could run 'on the order of $1 billion.' Coverage of the maiden flight noted the aircraft is intended only as a stopgap: Boeing's contracted VC-25B replacements are not expected until 2028, after which the Qatari jet is expected to be transferred to a Trump presidential library, and reporters again flagged that the gift 'raised ethical concerns.'

“You can do two things: You can low-key it, or you can show it. This is a gift from a country that has treated us very well.” — Trump on the retrofitted Qatari 747's first flight as Air Force One, July 1, 2026.