Trump
laments size of ‘much too big’ airplane gifted by Qatar
The Boeing
747-8, a present from the Gulf state, is more than 18ft longer than the current
Air Force One
Lucy
Campbell and Joanna Walters
Thu 29 May
2025 00.40 BST
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/28/trump-qatar-plane-gift-boeing
Donald
Trump’s big, beautiful new plane from the government of Qatar has arrived – but
the US president says it’s too big to be his personal perk.
The problem
for the US president is not the smack of impropriety that comes with accepting
a luxury 747 jumbo jet from the Gulf state and intended as a replacement Air
Force One – Trump has already brushed off any criticism on that front.
Now that
it’s arrived in the US, Trump says it’s too big to be his plane. The Qataris
have given the president a Boeing 747-8, a stretch model of the jumbo that is
more than 18ft longer than the much older 747-200B that flies as the current
Air Force One.
“Frankly,
it’s much too big,” Trump told reporters during a question-and-answer media
session in the Oval Office at the White House on Wednesday afternoon, as he
tried to explain why he regarded it as a gift to the nation rather than a perk
for him as an individual.
He called
the new jet a “beautiful, big, magnificent, free airplane for the United States
air force”. Trump continued: “They tried to say: ‘Oh, it’s Trump’s airplane.’
Oh, yeah, sure. It’s too big, frankly, it’s much too big.”
The original
offer from Qatar set off a firestorm of criticism of Trump, from both political
parties, particularly following his visit to the country earlier this month
where he focused most vigorously on trade and business deals. The US senator
Cory Booker and other prominent Democrats slammed the arrangement and Chris
Murphy, the Connecticut senator, called the gift “the definition of corruption”
and “wildly illegal”.
US-POLITICS-ETHICS-TRUMP<br>In
this February 15, 2025 a Boeing 747 sits on the tarmac of Palm Beach
International airport after US President Donald Trump toured the aircraft on
February 15, 2025. Donald Trump plans to accept a luxury Boeing jet from the
Qatari royal family for use as Air Force One and then continue flying in it
after his tenure, despite strict rules on US presidential gifts, media reported
May 11, 2025. Calling the plane a "flying palace," ABC News, which
first reported the story, said the Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet would possibly be the
most expensive gift ever received by the American government. (Photo by ROBERTO
SCHMIDT / AFP) (Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)
Asked on
Wednesday whether the jet is definitely going to become Air Force One, the
official plane of the US president, Trump said only that the aircraft was in
the US and “being re-fitted for military standard”.
He admitted
he doesn’t know how much the re-fitting will cost but guessed “a hell of a lot
less than building a new one”. He again criticized Boeing, the troubled US
aircraft manufacturer, for delays in replacing the current jet used as Air
Force One, which dates back to the early 1990s, apparently necessitating an
expedited replacement from another country.
Trump’s
private plane, nicknamed Trump Force One, is a Boeing 757.
This article was amended on 28 May 2025 to
clarify the context in which Donald Trump said the jet gifted by Qatar was too
big.
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