President Donald Trump described the $400 million jet Qatar’s government gave to the U.S. as a “gift, free of charge” on Truth Social. The plane may be free for Trump, but American taxpayers will spend more than anyone.
The jet will cost over $1 billion to renovate into Air Force One, according to NBC News. It might not be ready until Trump leaves office in 2029, when it will be taken out of use and displayed in Trump’s presidential library.
Boeing — the same company whose various issues have caused problems for NASA — already has a $3.9 billion contract to replace two Air Force One jets, which were supposed to be ready in 2022. Trump negotiated the contract in his first term.
When Trump took office for his second non-consecutive term this January, Boeing said the jets would not be ready until 2027. They suggested the president lease or buy a jet from one of Boeing’s other clients such as Qatar, CNN reported. It’s unclear how the plane later became a gift, considering that Qatar was trying to sell it for years.
The plane is unusable to the president until advanced security and communications systems are installed. Experts interviewed by NBC said the project makes “no financial or practical sense given that Boeing is already deep into a multiyear effort to convert two 747s to replace current Air Force One planes.”
The contract to renovate the plane will “likely” go to Boeing, according to NBC, since the manufacturing giant built the jet in the first place. That means the company could profit off its own failure to deliver new jets in 2022.
Trump told reporters, “I mean, I could be a stupid person and say, ‘No, we don’t want a free, very expensive airplane.’ I thought it was a great gesture … I appreciate it very much. I would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer.”
The White House says the airplane will be ready for use later this year, but aviation analyst Richard Aboulafia told NPR that is a “fantasy.”
Ken Walsh, a journalist who wrote a book about Air Force One, called the White House’s timeline an “interesting dream.” He told NPR, “Anybody who knows anything about these planes and the history of Air Force One knows that these are difficult to construct, and the technology is always improving. They don’t just show up at your airport. They have to be built,” he says.
The government should only be spending $1 billion on an airplane if it’s guaranteed to be used for travel, not displayed in a library.
(The #WasteOfTheDay is from forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com via RealClearWire.)
