Turning Qatari 747 into Air Force One could cost $1 billion

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Converting a Qatari-owned 747 jet into a new Air Force One for President Donald Trump would involve installing multiple top-secret systems, cost over $1 billion and take years to complete, three aviation experts told NBC News.

They said that accepting the 13-year-old jet would likely cost U.S. taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars over time, noting that refurbishing the commercial plane would exceed its current value of $400 million. The project might also not be completed by the end of Trump’s term in 2029, at which time the plane is expected to be handed over to Trump’s presidential library foundation.

Richard Aboulafia, an analyst and consultant on commercial and military aviation, said he thought turning the Qatari jetliner into Air Force One would cost billions and take years.

“You’re taking a 747, disassembling it, reassembling it, and then jacking it up to a very high level,” said Aboulafia, a managing director at AeroDynamic Advisory, a consulting firm.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Aviation experts refer to Air Force One as the most complicated aircraft on the planet. The plane is meant to serve as a secure communication center in the sky — including command and control of nuclear weapons — and allow the president to issue orders to military and government agencies in the event of war or other emergency.

Experts said the idea made no financial or practical sense given that Boeing is already deep into a multiyear effort to convert two 747s to replace current Air Force One planes. They said that the contract for refurbishing the Qatari 747 would likely go to Boeing as its original manufacturer.

“Since you’re also disassembling and reassembling the jet for security reasons, you’re probably going to go with the people who know it better,” Aboulafia said. “If you have to rip the plane apart, that’s more of a Boeing job.”

Some of the work could be done by L3 Harris, which specializes in this kind of work. The work would likely be done in Greenville, Texas. Qatari officials have said that the possible transfer of an aircraft for use as a new Air Force One plane is under consideration but no final decision has been made.

Dismantled, part by part
The Qatari jumbo jet would have to be effectively dismantled, part by part, to ensure there were no listening devices, spyware or other security vulnerabilities that could allow foreign powers to eavesdrop on the president’s plane.

It would then have to be fitted with costly, sophisticated systems for secure government communications, midair refueling, missile defense, countering electronic jamming and protecting against electro-magnetic pulse attack. There would likely need to be quarters added for White House medical staff and the Secret Service.

Installing the new systems could push the project into the 2030s, according to Aboulafia, who said that equipping the plane with midair refueling capability alone would be “enormously time-consuming.”

The White House has said the jet would be handed over to Trump’s presidential library foundation by the end of his term, in January 2029. That would presumably require the removal of all the sensitive government equipment installed on the aircraft.

Trump could override current Air Force security rules but usually employees working on presidential aircraft or similar sensitive projects need a high-level security clearance, known as a “Yankee White” clearance, according to an industry member who asked not to be named. In the past, Boeing has struggled to find enough workers with the necessary security clearances to do the work.

‘A real relief for Boeing’
In 2018, the Air Force issued a contract to Boeing to convert two 747s to eventually serve as new Air Force One aircraft, for $3.9 billion. In 2019, the Pentagon estimated that the total estimated cost of building, equipping and testing the planes would be higher, at about $5.3 billion.

The project has been plagued by delays and cost overruns. The jets were supposed to be ready by last year but may not be delivered until 2029.

At a congressional hearing on May 8, Darlene Costello, principal deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, technology and logistics, told lawmakers that the new planes could be ready by 2027 by reducing some of the requirements for the aircraft.

In 2022, Boeing’s then-CEO, Dave Calhoun, suggested the firm should not have accepted the Trump administration’s terms in 2018 on the new Air Force One.

For Boeing, converting the Qatari jetliner under a new contract could be good news as it has lost money on the fixed-cost contract it agreed to during Trump’s first term, as it has had to absorb major cost overruns, Aboulafia said.

“This would be a real relief for Boeing,” he said

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Tuesday he is placing a hold on all Trump Justice Department nominees as he seeks answers on the administration's plan to accept a luxury jet from Qatar to be used as Air Force One.

"In light of the deeply troubling news of a possible Qatari-funded Air Force One, and the reports that the Attorney General personally signed off on this clearly unethical deal, I am announcing a hold on all DOJ political nominees, until we get more answers,” Schumer said on the Senate floor.

The minority leader presented a list of questions and demands he says the Trump administration must respond to before he lifts his hold on nominees.

"President Trump has told the American people this is 'a free jet.' Does that mean the Qataris are delivering a ready-on-day-one plane with all the security measures already built in? If so, who installed those security measures, and how do we know they were properly installed?" Schumer asked. "If this is, as President Trump promised, a free jet, will the Qataris pay for those highly sensitive installations, or will American taxpayers cover the cost?"Schumer can’t block these nominees with this tactic, but he can slow down their consideration. It’s not really clear if the judicial nominees would have already been held for other reasons, considering that the vast majority of Trump nominees have already been held in this way.

The Office of Legal Counsel at the DOJ prepared a memo declaring that the acceptance of the plane was legal, a senior DOJ official told NBC News on Monday. The DOJ declined to release the memo, which Attorney General Pam Bondi approved.

Schumer, in his remarks Tuesday, called on Bondi to testify before Congress to explain the conclusion that there is no conflict and answer a number of questions related to the potential gift.

“The attorney general must testify before both the House and Senate to explain why gifting Donald Trump a private jet does not violate the emoluments clause — which requires congressional approval — or any other ethics laws,” Schumer said. “Until the attorney general explains her blatantly inept decision and we get complete and comprehensive answers to these and other questions, I will place a hold on all political nominees to the Department of Justice.”

Schumer also accused DOJ of not "doing its job" when it comes to the Foreign Agents Registration Act, saying that the unit that oversees adherence to the law needs to enforce it and disclose information to the public "not just on this luxury plane deal, but all deals involving foreign countries in the Middle East and President Trump, his family and the Trump Organization."

Reached for comment Tuesday, a White House spokesperson said: “Senator Schumer and his anti-law-and-order party are prioritizing politics over critical DOJ appointments, obstructing President Trump’s Make Safe Again agenda. Cryin’ Chuck must end the antics, stop Senate stonewalling, and prioritize the safety and civil rights of Americans.”

A DOJ spokesperson said, in response to Schumer, “The American people overwhelmingly elected President Trump to nominate highly qualified candidates at the Department of Justice who will Make America Safe Again, and the Senate should do its part by confirming these nominees.”

Before leaving for his trip to the Middle East on Monday, Trump defended his decision to accept the airplane gift, which he called “a very nice gesture.” He also said it would eventually be decommissioned and given to his presidential library.

“Now I could be a stupid person and say, ‘Oh no, we don’t want a free plane,’” he told reporters at the White House. “I would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer.”

Boeing had already been working on a plan to deliver Air Force One replacements, but the process has been delayed and has been over-budget. The company’s CEO told CNBC in January that it was working with Elon Musk to deliver them sooner than expected.

Meanwhile, some legal experts have questioned how a gift from Qatar that would follow Trump out of office could be permissible under the emoluments clause. Democrats and even some Trump allies have suggested the jet could be perceived as a conflict of interest.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, a close ally of the president's, told CNBC on Tuesday that "the plane poses significant espionage and surveillance problems."

Some Democrats have also questioned Bondi's involvement in the matter as she has previously lobbied for the government of Qatar.

“She was a paid agent of the Qatari government, a lobbyist before she became attorney general," Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said Tuesday. "We have questions that we’ve asked about how she cleared her ethics statement on her relationship with Qatar, and I think that this plane deal is really with that front and center."

Lawmakers and former intelligence officials note the massive spying risks posed by such a gift from a foreign government and the long history of gifts that turned out to be more than they appeared. In 1945, for example, Soviet children gifted the U.S. ambassador in Moscow a wooden carving of America's Great Seal, and a listening device inside the object was discovered seven years later.

Accusations that Trump has unlawfully benefited from foreign entities are nothing new. They arose during his first term but the legal question was never resolved before he left office.

At issue in those cases were claims under the emoluments clauses, which are anticorruption provisions that prevent the president from receiving payments from the states or gifts or payments from foreign officials.

There is no Supreme Court precedent on the subject to guide lower courts on how the clauses can be enforced or even who can sue.