The Boeing VC-25A aircraft known as Air Force One, tail number SAM 29000, completed its final presidential mission on June 18, 2026. The jet landed at Joint Base Andrews near Washington, D.C., after carrying President Donald Trump home from the G7 summit in France, The Washington Post reported. White House Communications Director Steve Cheung marked the moment on social media. He wrote, “The last ride,” alongside a photo of the aircraft, adding, “Well done, good and faithful servant”.
The retiring jet will be replaced by a former Qatari royal Boeing 747-8, now registered N7478D and designated the VC-25B Bridge aircraft. According to Reuters, The United States Air Force (USAF) confirmed the plane will join the active presidential fleet this summer, after a retrofit that cost roughly $400 million. The aircraft will serve only as an interim solution. Two purpose-built Boeing 747-8 replacements remain under construction and are not expected until 2028.
_landing_at_Dayton_International_Airport_(4).jpg){kind=link}
Why the Original Air Force One Jet is Retiring now
The VC-25A has flown American presidents since 1990. It is a modified Boeing 747-200B, one of only two aircraft that have carried the call sign Air Force One for the past 35 years (Scripps News). The aircraft has accumulated recurring maintenance issues as it has aged. According to Fox News, an in-flight mechanical glitch in January 2026 renewed political pressure to retire the fleet.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino also paid tribute to the jet. He said he had “been fortunate to fly around the world on this iconic plane for 5 1/2 years” of its 35 years of service. The second VC-25A has not flown since June 2, 2026, when it landed at Majors Airport in Greenville, Texas. That airport is the same site where the Qatari replacement jet underwent its conversion.
Qatari Boeing 747-8 Set to Become the New Air Force One
The incoming aircraft is a Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental, first delivered to Qatar in 2012 for use by Qatar Amiri Flight, the government’s VIP transport arm. Qatar had tried to sell the jet for five years before donating it to the United States, View from the Wing flagged). Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell confirmed the Department of Defense formally accepted the jet on May 21, 2025. He said, “The secretary of defense has accepted a Boeing 747 from Qatar in accordance with all federal rules and regulations”.
The interior was originally designed by French firm Cabinet Alberto Pinto for a Middle Eastern client. Before its retrofit, the cabin included the following features:
- An upper-deck lounge
- Private offices and a main salon
- Multiple bedrooms and crew quarters
- A private living room
- A children’s playroom
- Onboard entertainment systems and small meeting areas
Contractor L3Harris carried out the bulk of the retrofit work at Majors Airport in Greenville, Texas, though the Air Force has not officially named the contractor Workers stripped the cabin to assess and remove any foreign surveillance equipment before installing new communications and security systems. The jet completed flight testing in early May 2026 and is being painted in a red, white, and blue livery that Trump first proposed during his first term.
How Much the Retrofit Cost Taxpayers
Air Force Secretary Troy Meink told a House Armed Services Committee hearing on June 5, 2025, that the retrofit would likely cost “less than $400 million”. He added that many of those costs, including training platforms and spare parts, would have been incurred regardless.
Democratic lawmakers have offered a far higher estimate. Senators Tammy Duckworth and Elizabeth Warren wrote that the retrofit would likely cost taxpayers at least $1 billion. The senators also questioned whether funds from the Sentinel nuclear modernization program were diverted to pay for the work. The jet’s value alone has been estimated between $200 million and $400 million.
Security and Constitutional Concerns Raised by Lawmakers
The gift drew bipartisan criticism from the start. Republican Senator Ted Cruz said in May 2025 that the jet “poses significant espionage and surveillance problems”. Democratic Senator Jack Reed, the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, warned that accepting the plane would create “immense counterintelligence risks by granting a foreign nation potential access to sensitive systems and communications”.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker offered a memorable comparison. He said accepting the jet would be “like the United States moving into the Qatari embassy”. Separately, Senators Duckworth and Warren argued the arrangement “likely violated the Constitution’s prohibition on accepting foreign emoluments”. Trump has dismissed the criticism. He has said it would be “stupid” not to accept the jet.
How This Compares with the Other Carrier News Around the Program
Qatar’s gift sits alongside a separate and unrelated story involving the aircraft maker, not the donor. Boeing’s own VC-25B replacement program, which is meant to deliver two permanent presidential 747-8 jets, has suffered far worse setbacks than the Qatari bridge aircraft.
In a report published by Air & Space Forces Magazine, the outlet noted that Boeing’s fixed-price $3.5 billion contract has left the manufacturer with $2 billion in losses, largely due to a shortage of security-cleared labor.
That contrast is notable. The Qatari jet, despite being a secondhand foreign gift, moved from acceptance to flight testing in about a year. Boeing’s purpose-built replacements, ordered years earlier, are now expected no sooner than 2028, four years behind their original 2024 target.
Analysts at The War Zone have noted that the Qatari jet may not receive the same level of nuclear-hardening and wartime countermeasures built into the VC-25A, suggesting it may handle lower-risk missions rather than the full global Air Force One mission set.
.jpg){kind=link}
What Happens Next for the Presidential Fleet
The Air Force has confirmed both retiring VC-25A jets will remain in the executive fleet even after the Qatari bridge aircraft enters service. An Air Force spokesperson told The War Zone that “once the Qatari plane enters the rotation this summer, the VC-25As will continue to serve in the executive fleet and could still be used by the president as Air Force One” .
The smaller Boeing C-32, a modified 757-200 nicknamed “Baby Air Force One,” will continue to serve shorter-runway routes that the larger 747s cannot reach. Once Trump leaves office, the Qatari jet is expected to be donated to his future presidential library, a plan that has drawn its own bipartisan objections.