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Inside the Qatari luxury jet on offer to President Donald Trump
Semafor ^ | May 11, 2025 | Staff

Posted on 05/12/2025 1:04:04 PM PDT by Red Badger

The Scoop

The detailed specifications of a Boeing 747 that appears to be the same plane offered by the Qatari government to President Donald Trump are available online, offering a glimpse inside the luxurious jet.

The tail number of the plane, which ABC News first reported would be offered by Qatar to Trump, is visible in photographs of the aircraft during a stop at Palm Beach International Airport earlier this year. That number is a match for the Boeing serial number of a plane marketed by the company in 2020 in reporting at the time.

Though the listing for the plane on the site of the Swiss firm AMAC Aerospace is no longer online, a 16-page “aircraft specification summary” can still be found on its site. The document includes a detailed blueprint of the plane and a list of more than 100 interior parts and their manufacturers, as well as a glimpse at a vessel with many rooms — including an upper deck lounge, master bedroom, club seating area, and private office.

The document also includes images from the interior of the so-called “palace in the sky,” which Trump toured in Palm Beach in February.

The White House, asked about the plane documents and about any security concerns, referred Semafor to Trump’s Truth Social post, where he wrote that the potential aircraft gift is “a very public and transparent transaction.”

The tail number of the plane photographed in Palm Beach also includes the letter HBJ, the initials of a leading Qatari royal and former prime minister who posted on Instagram about visiting Trump at Mar-a-Lago in 2018.

It’s unclear whether the plane as depicted in the online specifications has undergone any internal or external changes since the specifications available online were published. The plane will also need additional alterations to meet presidential aircraft requirements, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Know More

This is the second time a leader of a NATO member nation has faced domestic criticism over a Qatari aircraft gift.

In 2018, Qatar gifted a “luxury” 747 to Turkey, Reuters reported at the time, drawing questions from opposition lawmakers. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan insisted that the gift would be “the plane of the Republic of Turkey, not my plane.” In Trump’s case, the plane will reportedly travel with him after he leaves office as a gift to his presidential library.

The gift is part of a vast investment by gas-rich Qatar, which hosts a US military base and has mediated talks with Hamas and the Taliban — playing a geopolitical role larger than its modest size. The country gives widely to governments and causes around the world, as well as financing the global television network Al Jazeera.

Qatar is offering to donate a Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet to the Defense Department, the White House official confirmed to Semafor, though the gift will not be presented or accepted during Trump’s trip this week. A Qatari official told Politico that while “the possible transfer of an aircraft for temporary use as Air Force One is currently under consideration,” the matter is still “under review.”

A Homeland Security official in the Obama administration, Juliette Kayyem, also raised security concerns about the plane, which she told Semafor “will need to be literally torn apart to confirm that there’s nothing on board that can compromise security (bugs, etc).” She said the plane lacks the air-to air-refueling capacity that would allow the president to continue to run the government without landing.

“Any gift given by a foreign government is always accepted in full compliance with all applicable laws,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. “President Trump’s Administration is committed to full transparency.”


TOPICS: Business/Economy; History; Military/Veterans; Travel
KEYWORDS: airforce; boeing; concerntrolling; dod; emolumentsclause; fakenews; qatar; qatarjet; tds; trumpqatarjet
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To: SaxxonWoods

In order to be a functional Air Force One, the entire aircraft needs to be gutted and refitted. AF-1 is NOT just a big luxury private jet.


21 posted on 05/12/2025 2:31:23 PM PDT by NorthMountain (... the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
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To: Blood of Tyrants
It’s a gift for after Trump leaves office.

Oh ... I hope he refuses it.

22 posted on 05/12/2025 2:32:17 PM PDT by NorthMountain (... the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
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To: mairdie

The jelly bean pic over the bed is weird


23 posted on 05/12/2025 2:34:46 PM PDT by MayflowerMadam (It's hard not to celebrate the fall of bad people. - Bongino)
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To: Red Badger

This man! Every day! I’m almost speechless. Thank you President Trump, your Cabinet, law enforcement and military. Incredible people, each and everyone. My heart swells with gratitude. Saving America!

Nice Plane Mr. President. They should have given you Two.


24 posted on 05/12/2025 2:43:56 PM PDT by MotorCityBuck (Keep the change, you are filthy animal !!)
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To: NorthMountain

Yea, the operating cost of th747 is waaay more than his 767.


25 posted on 05/12/2025 2:49:48 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (Time to dump out the Treasury drawer and throw out all the junk that is wasting our money.)
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To: Blood of Tyrants

I did (finally) see the bit about donating it to his Presidential Library ... which would then have to be the biggest Presidential Library ever. I’m not sufficiently fluent in Trumpese to go on about it being a big, beautiful Presidential Library. Not and do it justice ...


26 posted on 05/12/2025 2:53:23 PM PDT by NorthMountain (... the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
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To: NorthMountain

“In order to be a functional Air Force One, the entire aircraft needs to be gutted and refitted.”

Yes, quite correct. I found the interior amusing, that’s all.

Ny Times-
“The Trump administration plans to accept a luxury Boeing 747-8 plane as a donation from the Qatari royal family that will be upgraded to serve as Air Force One, which would make it one of the biggest foreign gifts ever received by the U.S. government, several American officials with knowledge of the matter said.”


27 posted on 05/12/2025 2:59:40 PM PDT by SaxxonWoods (The road is a dangerous place man, you can die out here...or worse. -Johnny Paycheck, 1980, Reno, NV)
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To: Red Badger

There’s no air to air refueling capability which I expect to be a performance issue or consideration.

Second I suspect it is not hardened for EMP events and there’s no way it has the classified defensive capabilities and communication abilities of the current model.

Lastly, you would probably have to take it down to the rivets to scan for bugs and potential threats.


28 posted on 05/12/2025 3:13:30 PM PDT by PittsburghAfterDark (There is no one more racist than a white liberal.)
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To: PGR88

“So Boeing is no longer able to make Presidential Jets?”
___________________________________________________________

They’re building 2 of them now.


29 posted on 05/12/2025 3:17:13 PM PDT by Bob Wills is still the king
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To: Red Badger

Shiekh chic decor.


30 posted on 05/12/2025 3:19:46 PM PDT by Bob Wills is still the king
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To: Red Badger
President Trump is adept at kicking ant hills, smacking hornets’ nests, and rattling wild-animal cages...

Exploding heads on both sides of the aisle are the only way to get this Nation straight again...

31 posted on 05/12/2025 3:53:57 PM PDT by SuperLuminal (Where is rabble-rising Sam Adams now that we need him? Is his name Trump, now?)
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To: MayflowerMadam
I'm a Jelly Belly afficianado, and I wouldn't call those jelly beans. Not as good as good modern art, and it would be the first thing in the decor I'd change.

Maybe something with clean simple lines like Delvaux's Village of the Mermaids, 1942. I always went to it first at the Chicago Art Institute. I've heard they sold it to get money for more "Diverse" artists.


32 posted on 05/12/2025 4:09:51 PM PDT by mairdie
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To: Justa

I didn’t see ant ashtrays in the seat arms either. My daughter is going to Europe & I told her when I flew to London in the 1980s, you could smoke then. For a while, they used to allow it but I think its stopped on international flights as well.


33 posted on 05/12/2025 4:15:57 PM PDT by Mean Daddy
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To: Red Badger

Maybe one of Trump’s sons or daughters could start selling paintings to finance the purchase.


34 posted on 05/12/2025 4:19:39 PM PDT by Mean Daddy
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To: PGR88

“So Boeing is no longer able to make Presidential Jets?”

Yes they can, but the sub-contractors that are needed to bring the plane up to AF1 operational specs aren’t.


35 posted on 05/12/2025 4:41:50 PM PDT by rellic (No such thing as a moderate Moslem or Democrat )
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To: Red Badger

Listening devices provided by iran, chins, russia, and as always, mossad.

Don’t hold that phone up to your face...


36 posted on 05/12/2025 4:48:53 PM PDT by If You Want It Fixed - Fix It
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To: NorthMountain

They’re reporting the value of this Quatari jet is ~ $300 mm

The fixed price contract agreed to for a new AF1 from Boeing in 2017 was $3.9 bb

so, plenty of room to retrofit

Plus. BA is saying expected delivery for that new AF1 has been pushed out to 2035 & is running over budget (for what? DEI contract?)

Sounds like same scope of work as brandons rural internet or EV charging station “investments”


37 posted on 05/12/2025 5:20:10 PM PDT by thinden
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To: Blood of Tyrants

His jet is a 757-200, not a 767.


38 posted on 05/12/2025 5:54:42 PM PDT by volare737 (Diversity is something to be overcome, not celebrated.)
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To: Blood of Tyrants
Yea, the operating cost of th747 is waaay more than his 767.

Trump has a 757, not a 767.

39 posted on 05/12/2025 6:06:06 PM PDT by noiseman (The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.)
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To: thinden

Apparently, this “gift” is not intended to be a new AF-1 ... and Boeing’s inability to turn out a new AF-1 (which is really more than one aircraft) on time and within budget is an indictment of Boeing more than it is anything else.

I just looked it up ... there are currently two Boeing 747s, designated as VC-25, that are outfitted specifically to serve as Air Force One.


40 posted on 05/12/2025 6:56:08 PM PDT by NorthMountain (... the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
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