Progress continues on the new Presidential transport. Air and Space Forces reports that Air Force One has a fresh coat of paint, one of the final steps before it goes into service. It no longer looks like the personal plane of the Qatari royal family, but the personal plane of Donald Trump, painted in the inverse color scheme of his personal Boeing 757.
An Air Force spokesperson said that painting is complete, and the “VC-25B bridge aircraft” is receiving its final modifications before it’s ready to take on Air Force One duties. While the Air Force did not say exactly when this will be, a previous announcement in May stated that the plane was on schedule to enter service this summer, which is likely still the case.
With work beginning only this past September, it’s taken defense contractor L3Harris under a year to rebuild and outfit this plane for Presidential duty. In contrast, Boeing has been working on two replacement 747s since 2018, and they still won’t be ready until 2029. No doubt the grift gift from Qatar is completely free of bugs and other surveillance equipment in this highly accelerated turnaround. I’m sure the concerns about the underside’s dark colors causing the highly specialized electronics to overheat have been completely addressed as well.
The end of an era
This is the first major change to the Air Force One color scheme since the Kennedy Administration. JFK himself collaborated with Studebaker Avanti designer Raymond Loewy to come up with the plane’s iconic blue and white color scheme, which is an interesting story in itself. Most people alive today have only known the President’s plane to look like this, despite several replacements and upgrades over the years.
Justin Hughes / Jalopnik
Yet in a way, this livery change is somewhat appropriate. For some reason, Trump will be allowed to keep this plane for himself after he leaves office, despite $1 billion in taxpayer dollars invested in refitting an aircraft that will spend little time in service before then. No doubt the fact that Trump made a so-called $200 billion deal with Qatar, which is really closer to $93 billion, to buy a fleet of Boeing airliners right after the royal family gave him the 747 is merely a coincidence.
