President Trump defended accepting a $400 million aircraft from Qatar to temporarily replace Air Force One, arguing that the aircraft is more “impressive” than the current presidential plane.
President Trump defended accepting a $400 million aircraft from Qatar to temporarily replace Air Force One, arguing that the aircraft is more “impressive” than the current presidential plane.
“The plane that you are on right now is almost 40 years old,” Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity, in an interview Monday as the president traveled to Saudi Arabia aboard Air Force One.
“And when you land and you see Saudi Arabia and you see [the United Arab Emirates] and you can see Qatar and you see all these – and they have these brand new Boeing 747s, mostly, and you see ours next to it – this is like a totally different plane,” the president continued.
“It’s much smaller. It’s much less impressive, as impressive as it is,” Trump said of Air Force One, a modified Boeing 747-200B aircraft that was introduced into service in 1990. “And you know, we’re the United States of America – I believe that we should have the most impressive plane.”
Trump, 78, confirmed Sunday that the US would receive the $400 million “flying palace” Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet from Qatar’s royal family “free of charge,” and that he planned to use the luxurious aircraft as an interim presidential plane while Boeing completes the next-generation Air Force One fleet following years of frustrating delays and cost overruns.
