On the move: Trump’s new jet heads to new location for Presidential makeover

The VIP-configured Boeing 747-8(BBJ) that was officially accepted by the US Government from the Qatari royal family in May 2025 and handed over in July 2025, has been on the move. The aircraft, with the manufacturer’s serial number 37075, and formerly registered on the Qatari register as P4-HBJ, was offered to US President Donald Trump as “a gift” following the US President voicing his frustrations over delays to two new Boeing 747s that were meant to be delivered as new Air Force One presidential transports.

According to the aviation database website ch-aviation, the VIP jumbo jet donated by Qatar to the US government was transferred to the US civilian aircraft register as N7478D on August 5, 2025. It subsequently flew from Alliance Fort Worth Airport (AFW) in Texas, where it has been in temporary storage, to Waco-James Connell Airport (CNW) in the same US state on August 8, 2025 – a ferry flight that lasted just 23 minutes according to data from Flightradar24.           

Flightradar24The latter airport is home to a major aircraft refurbishment facility owned and operated by specialist provider L3Harris Technologies, the organization that Trump personally picked to have the task of converting the luxury jet into one fit for transporting him around, but also the clearances needed to suitably equip the aircraft with the necessary security equipment for presidential transport duties. The cost of the retrofitting program is said to be costing the US Treasury an estimated $400 million.

The so-called gift of the 747-8 has not come without a degree of controversy, however. According to CNN, the White House press office first said that the US government “offered to buy the plane” from Qatar after first suggesting that a lease agreement could be arranged. However, Trump himself dispelled this story by stating on X that the aircraft would be exchanged as a “GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE”. 

Oleksandr Naumenko / ShutterstockHeavy criticism

President Trump was subsequently heavily criticized by numerous Democratic politicians over the possible acquisition and even faced rumblings of disapproval from Republicans. On May 19, 2025, Senator Chuck Schumer said he would introduce a bill that would “prohibit any foreign aircraft from being used” as Air Force One. 

Then, as recently as August 6, 2025, Democratic lawmakers, including senators Elizabeth Warren, Edward Markey, Tammy Duckworth, and Adam Schiff, accompanied by two members of Congress, wrote to US Air Force Secretary Troy Meink, expressing concerns that $934 million that had been slated for the US military’s from the LGM-35 Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) programme was being redirected toward the refurbishment of the new VIP aircraft.

Dirk Daniel Mann / ShutterstockAs reported by ch-aviation, in their letter to Meink, the politician once again brought up the issue of the legality of accepting the 747-8 under the Constitution’s emoluments clause, the classified nature of the retrofit cost, and the potential impact on nuclear-modernisation priorities.

Additionally, further disclosure as to the details of the contract with L3Harris, risk assessments, and the sources of funding for the refurbishment program were formally requested, with detailed responses to be filed by August 20, 2025.

Standing in – for now

The aircraft in question has been acquired to act as a stand-in replacement for the two Boeing 747-200s (also known by their US military moniker VC-25A) that currently share the duties of acting as ‘Air Force One’ and carrying the US president around the world to international meetings and summits. During President Trump’s first term in office, he signed a contract with Boeing in August 2017 for two newly built 747-8 aircraft that would replace the current VC-25As.

Angel DiBilio / ShutterstockHowever, due to ongoing cost escalations and production delays, the delivery of this pair of new jets has been repeatedly delayed from 2024. The first of the new planes is not now due until 2028, likely to be towards the end of Trump’s current term. In the meantime, the current VC-25As will serve until the new VIP 747-8 is ready sometime in 2026. Once the two newly-built Air Force Ones arrive from Boeing, the VIP 747-8 is expected to be transferred to Trump’s presidential library after he leaves office in 2028.

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