President Donald Trump is so desperate for a new Air Force One jet that he asked a Florida-based company to overhaul a plane once used by the Qatari government.
The moves comes amid years-long delays in the provision of two replacements for the aging presidential planes that the president commissioned during his last time in office.
After becoming frustrated at Boeing’s apparently inability to deliver the order Trump wants L3Harris, a defense contractor, to transform the luxury aircraft previously used by Qatar by the fall, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Back in February, Trump traveled to Palm Beach International Airport and toured the plane on the tarmac.
Based on pictures of interior, which boasted leather furniture along with glimmering floors and ceilings, it matched perfectly with Trump’s famously opulent taste in décor.
Its a major setback for Boeing, which had been tapped during Trump’s first term to deliver a new pair of state-of-the-art planes to replace the old ones that have been in service since George H.W. Bush administration.
Boeing has fallen so behind on the $3.9 billion project that it now fears it won’t be able to finish building the planes before Trump leaves office. They were supposed to be finished last year, but a series of supplier and engineering snags has caused the project to take years and go billions over budget.
Behind the scenes it appears Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg’s visit to the White House on April 18 did nothing to smooth things over.
President Donald Trump is done waiting for Boeing to make his new Air Force One fleet, instead tasking defense contractor L3Harris with the job of remodeling a jet once owned and used by the Qatari government
The interior of the plane is filled with plush carpeting and leather couches
Pictured: A conference room with deep cushioned chairs that are adjustable with the push of a button
A glimmering corridor inside the plane that jives with Trump’s famous love for anything and everything gold
Pictured: The used Qatari-plane sits on the tarmac at Palm Beach International Airport on February 15, 2025. Trump toured the plane that day
L3Harris, while not necessarily a household name like Boeing, does have the distinction of being the sixth-largest defense contractor in the United States.
The interior of the plane, done by famed French interior design firm Alberto Pinto Cabinet, is filled with ornate suites, staterooms, lounges and dining rooms. Nearly every room on board has plush carpeting, leather couches and golden furnishes.
The conference room has gorgeous tan and cream chairs with deep cushions that are adjustable with the push of a button. The corridors of the plane are lined with reflective, gold-colored walls that are reminiscent of Trump’s design choices at his own properties such as Trump Tower in Midtown Manhattan.
The plane is considered one of the most lavish in the world and once listed for about $400 million, according to the Business Jet Traveler.
And now it has the enormous task of retrofitting the Qatari jet with the most advanced communications and defense systems in the world in order to make the aircraft fit for the American commander-in-chief.
These apparatuses give the president the ability to have a mobile command center in the sky so he can make crucial decisions in event the US were militarily attacked.
The concept of transporting the president in his own private plane first came about in World War II.
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s advisors at the time thought traveling by passenger plane would be risky, while going by sea was out of the question because of German U-boats patrolling the waters around Europe.
Technology has certainly advanced leaps and bounds since then. The planes Trump and other modern presidents fly on can withstand electromagnetic pulse attacks and can refuel mid-air, which means they have unlimited range.
Still, the two aging 747s in Trump’s fleet increasingly require heavy maintenance, which could limit his transportation options when he needs to go overseas.
That’s why current White House officials were furious after learning that Boeing told federal officials in November that it wouldn’t be able to finish the planes it had been working on since 2017 until 2035.
Pictured: The current Boeing 747 jet that is being used as Air Force One. It has been in service since the days of George H.W. Bush, who served as president from 1989 to 1993
As a last ditch effort to save things with Boeing, Trump dispatched Elon Musk to try to speed things by authorizing the billionaire Tesla founder to give the plane manufacturer breathing room on certain onerous regulation imposed by the Air Force and the White House.
Trump administration officials have also talked about the possibility of suing Boeing, The Journal reported.
As a last ditch effort, Trump even dispatched Elon Musk to try to speed things up with Boeing by authorizing him to give the company breathing room on certain onerous regulation imposed by the Air Force and the White House.
At a February investor conference, Ortberg said Musk is ‘able to pretty quickly ascertain the difference between technical requirements and things that we can move out of the way.’
Although Trump has left Boeing in the dust, it has been indicated that the company will continue working on the pair of jets, even if it takes another decade.
However, it’s likely that L3Harris will run into serious challenges achieving Trump’s wish of having his chosen plane ready in a matter of months, according to Andrew Hunter, the Air Force’s acquisition chief during the Biden administration.
The abbreviated timeline will likely limit how many modifications Trump will be able to have done.
‘You could do some paint, you could do some communications upgrades, and I suspect it would be hard to do too much beyond that on that timeline,’ Hunter told The Journal.
The new Air Force One, which will already have a much more luxurious interior, could have a much bolder exterior as well.
That’s because current military officials have reportedly discussed painting current Air Force One jets red, white and blue.
Daily Mail reached out to the White House and Boeing for comment.
