President Donald Trump boards Air Force One at Lehigh Valley International Airport in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Aug. 3, 2025. (REUTERS/Ken Cedeno)
"I miss Air Force One," Bush said at an event for Veterans in 2014. "In eight years, they never lost my baggage."
The two forthcoming Boeing planes have been plagued by delays due to the complex technology needed onboard Air Force One.
"They've got to debug it, make sure there's no signals intelligence risks. And I think just to make it secure against any potential military attacks. It was ironic for a long time. It was one of the Prince's planes, which I think they were trying to sell. And now they're giving it to the U.S., and it's costing quite a bit to update," staff writer for the Free Press Jay Solomon said.
The Qatari jet is estimated to have a faster timeline than the two Boeing planes, but it still needs some of the same technology to make it Air Force One.
"If you look at it just through economics, maybe it makes sense, but I still think the fact that we're allowing a foreign country to gift something of that magnitude to a sitting president on top of all these other concerns," Soloman said. "I think it's a risk, and it's not a good look."
Air Force One is required to have four engines, unlike most of today’s passenger planes which have two. Onboard is the highest level of classified communications and external protections against foreign surveillance. The planes are equipped with air-to-air refueling capabilities so they can fly for as long as is needed. Air Force One is built for the worst possible scenarios, like nuclear war, so that the president can still command military forces from the sky.
"They're extremely complex, and I'm not going to go into it, but they're not like a normal plane. You know, it's not like building a 747 normal," Trump said during his Middle East Trip on "Special Report" in May.
TRUMP ACCEPTS JET FROM QATAR, WILL REFIT TO SERVE AS AIR FORCE ONE, DOD SAYS
The Boeing 777X and Boeing 737 MAX 10 planes are among models considered for an updated executive fleet. (REUTERS/Lindsey Wasson)
In 2014, Obama was forced to switch planes during a campaign event in Philadelphia after a minor mechanical problem was reported on Air Force One.
In 2021, Vice President Kamala Harris' plane requested an emergency return to Joint Base Andrews as she began her first foreign trip overseas to Guatemala and Mexico.
Most recently, Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s plane was forced to turn around while en route to Munich in February, after a mechanical issue.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The newest aircraft among the executive fleet are the Marine One Helicopters. Biden first rode in the newly designed Marine One in 2024 during the Democratic National Convention. Updating those took nearly two decades and in some cases replaced helicopters flying since the 1970s.
The Boeing 777X is expected to be the next new major commercial aircraft. It’s scheduled to enter service in 2026 after a nearly six-year delay with Lufthansa taking the first flight. The modernized plane is designed to have a folding wingtip, a touchscreen flight deck and wider cabin space.
Bret Baier currently serves as FOX News Channel's (FNC) anchor and executive editor of Special Report with Bret Baier (weeknights at 6-7PM/ET), chief political anchor of the network and co-anchor of the network’s election coverage. Baier is also host of FOX News Audio's "The Bret Baier Podcast" which includes Common Ground and The All-Star Panel. He joined FNC in 1998 as the first reporter in the Atlanta bureau and is now based in Washington, D.C. where he was recently described as "the most influential news anchor in America right now" at the 2025 Semafor Trust in News summit.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/closer-look-air-force-one-executive-fleet