US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has accepted a Boeing 747-8I from Qatar to serve as Air Force One, a mission that will require extensive modifications.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said on 21 May that the 747-8I Boeing Business Jet (BBJ) has been accepted “in accordance with all federal rules and regulations”.
The widebody aircraft will be upgraded for security and “functional mission” purposes by the US Air Force.
It is unclear when the aircraft is expected to begin its new presidential transport mission. The jet appears to be one of two 747-8Is operated by VVIP airline Qatari Amari Flight, A7-HHF and A7-HHE.
Pentagon acceptance of the 747-8I BBJ from Doha follows President Donald Trump’s recent tour of the Middle East, during which he presided over the signing of a mega-deal that will see Boeing deliver to Qatar Airways up to 210 widebody jets, including 787s and 777X aircraft.
Trump described the incoming luxury aircraft as a “gift, free of charge” in a signature all-capital-letters social media post.
As recently as 14 May, Qatar’s prime minister and minister of foreign affairs, Abdulrahman Al-Thani, had said that the proposed 747-8I BBJ gift was under legal review.
Al-Thani has maintained that the ultra-luxury aircraft is not being gifted to the US to curry favour with the Trump administration, pointing to decades of cooperation between Qatar and the USA.
Trump, meanwhile, has previously expressed impatience with the much-delayed 747-8-based VC-25B Air Force One replacement. In February, he enlisted billionaire Elon Musk to help move the conversions along, and warned at the time that he was considering an "alternative" aircraft.
