It will cost hundreds of millions of dollars to retrofit a Qatari luxury Boeing 747 jetliner to fly as the new Air Force One, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said.

You can’t retrofit a plane that is built for another purpose for Air Force One and expect it to be a free plane.” Rep. Joe Courtney’s own words, as reported by CNN, come to the essence of a debate now holding the defense and aviation world in its clutches: how practical,

On May 11, 2025, several mainstream news outlets reported that the nation of Qatar had offered U.S. President Donald Trump a Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet to be remodeled into a new Air Force One.