It Only Took One Trip for Trump’s New Air Force One to Be Deemed a Security Risk

Earlier this week, President Donald Trump embarked to a NATO summit in Turkey on his new flying bribe, the Qatar-donated, $400 million price tag Boeing 747-8 airliner that he’s been desperate to turn into the new Air Force One since last year because it has more of the rich person amenities he craves. And then last night … he flew out of Turkey on the old Air Force One instead, leaving his new toy behind due to what aides carefully worded as “security precautions.” One trip under its belt, and the new plane already can’t be trusted? Yeah, that sounds like a story from Trump’s orbit to us.

The change in planes, which came at the urging of the Secret Service according to The New York Times, no doubt had something to do with Trump choosing this week of all times to officially reignite the war with Iran, saying “I think it’s over” in reference to the precarious truce that had for months been filled with ineffective bargaining. Already, the U.S. and Iran are exchanging strikes throughout the region, and Iran is also lashing out at other nearby states such as Jordan, even as it continues with a state funeral for former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Trump looked at this situation, after landing in a country that literally shares a border with Iran, and thought that this would be the best time to get those hostilities percolating again. Now that is some classic Trumpian 5D chess, to boost the threat level while you personally happen to be within ballistic missile range.

“we are using the original air force one jet ‘for old times sake'”

an actual explanation from the trump administration

— darth™️ (@darthbluesky.bsky.social) 1:26 AM · Jul 9, 2026

The sudden swap of planes, meanwhile, raises questions that officials and lawmakers have been largely unsuccessful in getting answered throughout 2026, mostly in the vein of “Is this new Air Force One actually secure?” The Air Force effectively had to do an expedited rush job to get it ready to fly this summer per Trump’s request. This has made some legislators and members of the intelligence community question whether it has actually had all of the features installed that are considered necessary for top-of-the-line security and defense, such as advanced anti-missile defense systems or hardened wiring to protect the plane from an electromagnetic pulse. The decision to swap planes implies at least on some level that there is a level of skepticism on how safe the formerly Qatari plane actually is, regardless of how plush its cushions may be. Trump’s spokespeople, naturally, say it’s all fine.

“The new Air Force One is a state-of-the-art aircraft that has been fitted with high-level security protocols that ensure the safety of the president and his staff,” said White House communications director Steven Cheung. “As the president has said recently, there are many enemies of America who have their sights on him, and we use every tool at our disposal — including distraction and misdirection — to address those threats.”

Alright, sure, whatever. I’m not going to sit here and act as if I’m some kind of expert in Boeing’s designs or Air Force security. But I will note that this Trump pronouncement on Truth Social last night sounds like the exact sort of thing an embarrassed President might hastily type out as a cover story for why he’s not flying on the new plane he’s been demanding for months. Those lucky troops, though! Who wouldn’t want to get onboard the new Air Force One and see the presidential sheets that Trump is presumably soiling on a nightly basis?

Surely none of us would be all that shocked in the end to find out that Trump is more interested in comfort and the projection of authority and power than actual, meaningful (and boring) security. That’s probably why “people briefed on the new plane’s capabilities” were reportedly telling NYT that it “does not have all the features of the older plane,” despite the time it’s spent being retrofitted by the Air Force at a secret Texas facility. According to Andrew P. Hunter, the former Air Force assistant secretary who oversaw the Air Force One program during the Biden administration, the necessary refit of a 747-8 to become Air Force One is the sort of job that requires more than a year of work to accomplish. Trump’s Qatari plane, on the other hand, had significantly less time than that.

“In that time they had, they would be able to accommodate communications upgrades,” Hunter told NYT. “But not anything that would require significant structural work. To do a full Air Force One equivalent upgrade does require structural modifications.”

At the end of the day, Trump should probably be thankful that members of his Secret Service and security teams are aware enough of all the vulnerabilities his vanity introduces into their jobs that they can come up with countermeasures to address them. It must be a truly exhausting duty, ensuring that the 80-year-old President doesn’t find a way to faceplant each time he steps outside of Mar-a-Lago.