‘Excited’ Donald Trump takes first flight on Qatar-gifted Air Force One

Subscribed with another email? Logout and Login with that one. Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials, Opinions and more. Unlock these with Subscription The View From India Looking at World Affairs from the Indian perspective. First Day First Show News and reviews from the world of cinema and streaming. Today's Cache Your download of the top 5 technology stories of the day. Science For All The weekly newsletter from science writers takes the jargon out of science and puts the fun in! Data Point Decoding the headlines with facts, figures, and numbers THEdge At the cutting edge of education and careers Health Matters Ramya Kannan writes to you on getting to good health, and staying there Gender Agenda Stories from beyond the binary. The Hindu On Books Books of the week, reviews, excerpts, new titles and features. Published - July 02, 2026 04:13 pm IST - U.S.A U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he boards the new Air Force One, a plane gifted by the Qatari government, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, U.S. | Photo Credit: Reuters U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday (July 1, 2026) he was thrilled to make his first flight aboard his new Air Force One plane, thanking Qatar for the controversial gift of the luxury jet. Mr. Trump said the United States "couldn't build a plane like this" — despite the fact that the heavily modified Boeing 747-8 aircraft was originally made there. "To be honest with you, I'm excited about the first flight. Nobody's ever seen anything like it," Mr. Trump told journalists traveling with him, including an AFP photographer, ahead of a trip to North Dakota. The President is due to attend an event at the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library as part of celebrations for the 250th anniversary of American independence. "They just completed it. They made it appropriate for a President, that means the security and all of the different bells and whistles they put on. Very complex stuff, but it's really quite something," Mr. Trump said at Joint Base Andrews near Washington. Critics have raised a host 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 wealthy Gulf emirate, which is also playing a key role as a mediator in talks between the U.S. and Iran, donated the jet last year. It has since undergone major modifications and testing. The first flight also comes just a day after Mr. Trump faced further ethical scrutiny over filings that showed he earned around $1.2 billion dollars from his family's cryptocurrency ventures in his first year back in power. But Mr. Trump dismissed any suggestion of impropriety, saying the cost to U.S. taxpayers of adapting the Qatari jet was "very little relative to what it would cost if we did it a different way". "Frankly, we couldn't build a plane like this because we wouldn't be willing to spend the kind of money necessary. They spent top dollars," Mr. Trump told reporters. The President had asked the Emir of Qatar if he could use the plane but he said “no, no, I'd like to make a contribution to the country, so it was very nice". The plane will serve as a stopgap until Boeing delivers two new purpose-built Air Force Ones, which are expected to be delivered in two years after a series of delays and cost overruns. Mr. Trump has long been obsessed with replacing the aging current Air Force One fleet, although one of them appeared to be traveling as a backup for him on Wednesday (July 1, 2026). Copyright© 2026, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. Terms & conditions | Institutional Subscriber Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments. We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.

‘Excited’ Donald Trump takes first flight on Qatar-gifted Air Force One

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‘Excited’ Donald Trump takes first flight on Qatar-gifted Air Force One

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