In this February 15, 2025 a Boeing 747 sits on the tarmac of Palm Beach International airport after US President Donald Trump toured the aircraft on February 15, 2025.
Roberto Schmidt | Afp | Getty Images
The Trump administration has formally accepted a Boeing 747 jet that was gifted to the U.S. by the government of Qatar, the Pentagon said Wednesday.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth accepted the luxury plane “in accordance with all federal rules and regulations,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement to CNBC.
The Department of Defense will work to ensure that the jet, which President Donald Trump wants to use as the new Air Force One, fulfills “proper security measures and functional-mission requirements,” Parnell said.
Boeing has spent years working to convert two 747s into the next Air Force Ones in a deal struck during Trump’s first term as president. But the project is years behind schedule, and the planes may not be ready before the end of Trump’s second term.
Trump administration officials earlier this year said the president was frustrated with that pace and considering alternatives.
But it is far from clear if the 13-year-old Qatari jet, which has been valued at $400 million, could truly offer a quick fix.
Experts have said that converting that jet into an Air Force One could cost taxpayers over $1 billion and take years to complete.
Qatar’s gift has also raised swells of anger from Democrats and other critics, some of whom have condemned the exchange as an effective bribe of a U.S. president.
Trump has defended accepting the donation, saying it would be “stupid” not to accept a free jet and insisting that it is going to the U.S. government, “not to me.”
Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg told analysts his company’s latest quarterly earnings call that “we continue to work with the customer to revise the program plan to allow for an earlier first delivery while maintaining our focus on safety and quality.”
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— CNBC’s Leslie Josephs contributed to this report.
