The Trump administration is ready to just accept a luxurious airplane from the Qatari royal household that shall be retrofitted and used as Air Pressure One in the course of the president’s second time period, two individuals aware of the settlement advised CNN.
President Donald Trump embarks Monday on his first main overseas journey, which features a cease in Doha, Qatar.
Given the large worth of a Boeing 747-8, the transfer is unprecedented and raises substantive moral and authorized questions. A Qatari official mentioned the airplane is technically being gifted from the Qatari Ministry of Protection to the Pentagon, describing it extra as a government-to-government transaction as a substitute of a private one. The Protection Division will then retrofit the airplane for the president’s use with security measures and modifications.
The plan is for the airplane to be donated to Trump’s presidential library after he leaves workplace, guaranteeing he can proceed to make use of it, in accordance with an individual acquainted.
“Experiences {that a} jet is being gifted by Qatar to the USA authorities in the course of the upcoming go to of President Trump are inaccurate,” Ali Al-Ansari, Qatar’s media attaché to the US, mentioned Sunday.
“The attainable switch of an plane for momentary use as Air Pressure One is at the moment into account between Qatar’s Ministry of Protection and the US Division of Protection, however the matter stays beneath evaluation by the respective authorized departments, and no determination has been made,” he mentioned.
ABC Information first reported on the brand new airplane.
Trump and aides toured the airplane earlier this 12 months on the airport in Palm Seaside, Florida, and it’s anticipated to be in use inside two years, one individual advised CNN.
Following his tour, Trump has boasted to individuals round him about how luxurious the airplane was.
“President Trump is touring a brand new Boeing airplane to checkout the brand new {hardware}/know-how,” White Home communications director Steven Cheung mentioned in a press release on the time.
Boeing has been working towards renovating two 747 jets into next-generation Air Pressure One plane, however the course of has been wracked by delays. The planes had been scheduled to be delivered by 2022 and now aren’t anticipated until at least 2027, in accordance with experiences.
Cheung mentioned earlier this 12 months that Trump’s tour of the airplane “highlights the undertaking’s failure to ship a brand new Air Pressure One on time as promised, as they’re already 5 years late.”
The president has been deeply annoyed by delays in new plane for use as Air Pressure One. He at one level tasked Elon Musk with serving to speed up the method.
Provide chain points and Covid-19 pandemic-era staffing shortages have contributed to the delays.
CNN’s Betsy Klein and Kylie Atwood contributed to this report.
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