Donald Trump says he expects to be flying on the luxury Qatari jet that will become the new Air Force One as early as February.
Plans to refit the $400 million jet, previously used by the Qatari royal family, are underway. Trump said in May that it was a “gift” and he didn’t want to turn down a “free plane.”
“I think by, let’s say, February, maybe?” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Tuesday when asked when he expected to be flying on the new one.
“Much sooner than the others,” he added. “The others are being built. Long time.”
Trump said he doesn’t know the cost of retrofitting the 13-year-old plane, saying, “That’s up to the military.”
“It’s their plane. It’s, you know, the Air Force. They’ll be spending an amount of money,” he added.
This week, news outlets obtained a memorandum of understanding, known as an MOU, signed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and his Qatari counterpart, Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.
The document laid out an agreement for what it called a “bona fide gift” and “unconditional” donation.
When Trump announced the deal in May, it ignited legal, ethics and national security concerns, and fierce backlash from both sides of the aisle. There are also unanswered questions about the cost to taxpayers to retrofit the jet.
The White House has insisted it’s legal to take the gift, and that it will be donated to Trump’s presidential library when his term is over.
It’s not clear how much it will cost to refit the jet to the appropriate standards, but analysts have estimated it could cost anywhere between hundreds of millions to more than $1 billion. According to The New York Times, Trump will want “gold trim” on the jet, which includes a lounge and communications center, among other luxury features.
“Why would we ask the American taxpayer to spend upwards of $1 billion on a plane that would then only be used for a handful of months and then transfer directly to the president?” Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat, asked in a Senate hearing last month. “That doesn’t sound like a wise use of taxpayer dollars.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House, Air Force, and Department of Defense for comment on the timeline to prepare the jet. A Pentagon spokesperson referred questions to the Air Force when reached.
Trump has complained about the existing Boeing 747-200 jets in the Air Force One fleet, which are about 35 years old. There have been significant delays and budget overruns in Boeing’s contract to build two new Air Force One planes, which were supposed to be completed last year.
Trump told reporters on board Tuesday that the plane they were flying on was “old.”
“It’s a great plane,” he said, but “you can’t get parts for it anymore. It’s very hard to get parts.”
