Washington-Air Force One is not up to par, claims President Donald Trump.
He thinks his presidential ride doesn’t match as he lands and glances over at the planes of the leaders of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates parked on the tarmac.
“This is like a totally different plane,” Trump told Fox News commentator Sean Hannity this week aboard Air Force One during his trip to the Middle East. “It’s much smaller. It’s less impressive.”
Though commonly referred to as a “palace in the sky,” from Qatar’s royal family, a $400 million foreign gift that would be the greatest ever to a U.S. president, the outward differences would not be clear-cut for the casual flier as Trump intends to accept Boeing 747-8.
The Qatari plane can fly somewhat faster and farther and carry more weight than Air Force One. Its length is 18 feet 4 inches longer. Built in 1990, is also 22 years younger than Air Force One. Both planes have the same height and carry somewhat similar passenger counts.
But the Qatari plane distinguishes itself most obviously with its opulent inside features: creamy white and brown leather furniture, rugs and artwork created by the renowned French interior design firm Cabinet Alberto Pinto, Bloomberg notes.
Trump has presented the jet as an old antique and the Qatari plane as a much-needed improvement. “We’re the United States of America,” Trump declared. “I think our plane should be rather outstanding.”
Republicans legislators on committees monitoring the country’s armed forces and intelligence agencies told the Wall Street Journal that if converted to Air Force One, the Qatari plane’s inside would have to be totally stripped, scrubbed for surveillance technology for security reasons and essentially rebuilt.
After his first government in 2018 won Boeing a $3.9 billion deal to build two new Air Force One jets, Trump has complained that the business has been too slow to complete a new aircraft. CNN said the new aircraft might arrive two years early than the most recently projected date and before Trump’s second term expires. (The Air Force runs a second Air Force One jet—also a Boeing 747-200B class aircraft—that was ordered in 1991).
Trump’s proposal is for the Qatari aircraft to act as the temporary Air Force One while Boeing completes construction of the updated models. The plane would then head to his eventual presidential archive.
Accepting the plane could violate the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution, which forbids any U.S. official from accepting “any present“ of “any kind whatsoever, from any King, Prince, or foreign state.”
The plane is a gift to the U.S. Air Force, not Trump personally, the White House has said.
Regarding the Qatari plane Trump wants, the White House has not made public any details. But when the jet was parked at Palm Beach International Airport in South Florida this summer, Semafor followed its tail number. The number corresponds to a Boeing serial number for an airplane described in a 16-page “aircraft specification summary” produced by Swiss company AMAC Aerospace
It is unknown if the Qatari plane has made arrangements after the 2023 report was published.
Based on publicly accessible data, the Qatari jet is compared here with Air Force One:
Boeing 747-200B v. Boeing 747-8
Comparatively to the regular 747-200, Air Force One is a Boeing 747-200B with more powerful engines and fuel capacity. Boeing began offering the type in 1972.
Special electronic and communications equipment, a self-contained baggage loader, front and aft air-stairs and in-flight refueling capability are among the improvements from a regular 747-200B Air Force One features.
Boeing claims that the Qatari jet is a Boeing 747-8, a widebody aircraft with revised wings and stretched fuselage. The model launched itself onto the market in 2011.
Ages of planes
Computed in 1990, the present Air Force One aircraft has flown six presidents: George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Trump, both in both first and second non-consecutive terms.
2012, the same year the Boeing 747-B was produced, the Qatari royal family bought it. The airliner had renovations inside, and it started operations in 2015.
Qatari plane can fly farther
Apart from its length and somewhat higher height, the 747-B owned by Qatar boasts a larger wing span: 224 feet, 5 inches as opposed to Air Force One’s 195, 8 inches.
Additionally able to travel farther without refueling is the Qatari 747-8. Without having to refuel, Air Force One can fly about 7,751 miles. That is like a flight west from Washington D.C. to Tokyo.
Air Force One’s maximum take-off weight is 833,000 pounds; the 747-B’s is 987,000 pounds.
Inside the rooms on Air Force One
Information from Boeing and the U.S. Force indicates that Air Force One has roughly 4,000 square feet of inside floor area.
That includes an executive suite with quarters for the president and first lady (equipped with a dressing room, lavatory and shower), a conference and dining room, an office area for senior staff members, an area that can be turned into a medical facility, as well as seating areas for the presidential staff and Secret Service, Air Force crews and travelling members of the press.
Modern navigation, electronic and communications technology, ground and satellite communications, modern multi-frequency radios for air-to—air, and two galleys capable of providing 100 meals at one sitting make Air Force One also unique.
Six passenger lavatories line the aircraft.
Inside the Qatari plane
The Qatari plane’s inside features a more contemporary style with elegant cream white couches, chairs and rugs, pictures of the plane show.
Bloomberg reports that late American sculptor Alexander Calder’s works abound throughout, along with handcrafted Tai Ping carpets, sycamore and wacapou wood accents.
The layout calls for a master bedroom, guest bedroom, a separate corridor for the executive residence, an upper deck lounge space with a long leather sofa facing a big flat screen television, extra loung places with big leather seats, a private office and various galleries.
Along with advanced music, video and broadband internet systems, amenities include motorized window shades, water systems allowing hot and cold water for each sink and shower, a digital entertainment and game system.
Apart from one lavatory in the bedroom suite and another in the guest bedroom, the aircraft boasts nine lavatories for passenger use.
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