WASHINGTON, June 19 (DC Times Online) — President Donald Trump on Friday unveiled a refurbished Boeing 747-8i at Joint Base Andrews in Washington, D.C., as the Air Force moves the Qatar-donated jet into commissioning flights that will prepare it to serve as an interim Air Force One.
The Air Force said the aircraft has completed modifications and flight testing. Commissioning flights will now begin as the final phase before the plane enters operational service.
The jet is intended to fill the gap while Boeing continues work on two VC-25B replacement aircraft for the presidential fleet. The Air Force has described the plane as a bridge aircraft until the newer jets are ready.
The unveiling marked a major step in the federal presidential airlift program, which depends on aircraft that can be validated, certified for mission use and then placed into service under Air Force control. In this case, the service said the plane has already moved beyond the modification stage and into the last stretch of testing before it can carry the president.
The aircraft was donated by the government of Qatar and modified for presidential use. Trump described it as a “flying White House” during his remarks at the base.
The plane’s exterior has also been changed. The Air Force said it is being painted in a red, white and blue livery that replaces the traditional light blue-and-white look associated with the Kennedy era.
The service said that revised paint scheme will become the standard across the presidential and executive airlift fleet, including the VC-25B aircraft still under development. That means the style shift is not limited to one jet but is set to carry across the future fleet once the new aircraft are delivered.
The change gives the Air Force a visible reset for the aircraft used on presidential travel, even as the underlying fleet modernization remains unfinished. The refurbished 747-8i is not the final Boeing replacement, but it is the aircraft the service is preparing to use in the meantime.
Air Force statements in May said the former Qatari 747 had completed modification and flight testing and was being painted in the new livery. NPR reported at the time that the plane would be ready for Trump later in the summer, while Bloomberg reported the service said the aircraft had finished modification and flight testing and was being readied for delivery to the Presidential Airlift Group.
Trump used the unveiling to draw attention to the aircraft’s role as the temporary presidential transport while Boeing finishes the separate VC-25B program. The president has framed the refurbished jet as a high-end replacement for the aging aircraft that currently fill the role, but the new Boeing planes are still under development.
The aircraft’s move from modification to commissioning flights matters because it marks the difference between a completed project and an operational one. The work is not done when the jet is repainted or even when flight tests are complete. The Air Force still has to finish the commissioning phase before the plane can officially take on the presidential transport mission.
The base location also gives the aircraft local significance in the Washington area, where Air Force One operations are closely tied to federal military aviation at Joint Base Andrews. For the capital region, the unveiling put a new aircraft in front of the public at the same place where presidential travel is staged and supported.
Trump also said the aircraft would take part in a flyover for next year’s America 250 celebrations in Washington, signaling that the plane is already being folded into future presidential and military event planning even before it enters regular service.
The Air Force has not publicly released the exact commissioning schedule or an operational handoff date. It has said only that commissioning flights will begin before the aircraft enters service, leaving the final transition to be completed after those flights are finished.
