Egypt’s new ‘Air Force One’ Boeing 747-8 arrives in Cairo after years in storage
December 12, 2025
Yesterday, the Egyptian government finally took delivery of its 14-year-old, but also brand-new Boeing 747-8. The aircraft (registered SU-EGY) was built in 2011 for Lufthansa but was not taken up. The aircraft had remained with Boeing ever since, that is, until yesterday.
Egypt receives its brand-new 14-year-old VIP Jumbo
After more than four years of Lufthansa Technik overhauling and fitting the cabin, a newish Boeing 747-8 has finally been delivered to the Egyptian government.
After more than 4 years at @LHTechnik for overhaul and cabin fitting, the new Egypt Government VIP aircraft Boeing 747-830 SU-EGY has left @HamburgAirport this morning on delivery to Cairo…
— Dirk Grothe | Aviation Photography (@digro65) December 11, 2025
Built in 2011 and many years in storage in USA, the former Lufthansa D-ABYE not taken… pic.twitter.com/dmf2pJmYZg
Data from FlightRadar24 shows it has conducted five flights from Germany’s Hamburg in 2025, returning to the same airport every time. These flights varied between just over one and almost eight hours long. With every flight, it had the callsign EGY1.
Then on 11th December, the aircraft, with the callsign EGY2, flew from Hamburg to Cairo, touching down at 16:57 local time.
The Jumbo business jet is designed to transport high-ranking Egyptian figures, including President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly. The aircraft reportedly cost $500 million and has been upgraded with military upgrades (like communication and defence systems).
Say hello to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s brand-new $500M Boeing 747-8 (SU-EGY), fresh out of Hamburg. This state-of-the-art aircraft just wrapped its upgrade which includes communication gears and defense systems. pic.twitter.com/fQcJZUa8kt
— Egypt's Intel Observer (@EGYOSINT) May 22, 2025
The tail features the Egyptian flag, with the Republican Eagle or Egyptian Golden Eagle prominently displayed.
Egypt’s Air Force One 747-8: Not taken up by Lufthansa
Lufthansa ordered 20 Boeing 747-8s that were set to be delivered between 2012 and 2015 as passenger aircraft. This particular airframe had already been painted in basic Lufthansa colour and was to take the registration D-ABYE.
However, Boeing needed a test aircraft and asked Lufthansa for one to be held back in the US for flight testing and demonstrations.
Lufthansa agreed, and as fate would have it, the German airline never received the aircraft. In Boeing service, the aircraft had the registration number N6067U until December 2014, when, according to Planespotters.net, it was changed to N828BA.
After 2018, the new Jumbo sat in storage in the desert, looking for a new owner. In September 2021, it was revealed that its new owner was to be the Egyptian government and that it would fly as Egypt’s answer to the US Air Force VC-25 “Air Force One.”
The aircraft was ferried to Shannon in Ireland in September 2022, where it stayed for three weeks as it received its new paint job.
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New Boeing 747-8 are still to be delivered
The final Boeing 747-8 was delivered to Atlas Air in 2023, well, sort of. While no more Boeing 747 Jumbos are being built, that doesn’t mean they aren’t still being delivered.
Besides the new Egyptian “Air Force One” aircraft, two more “Air Force One” aircraft are yet to be delivered. Boeing is working to deliver the two VIP VC-25B aircraft based on the 747-8 to replace the existing fleet of VC-25A aircraft based on the Boeing 747-200.
These were originally built for the Russian airline, Transaero, which went bankrupt in 2015. The aircraft were then stored in the Mojave Desert.
The US Air Force later purchased these two undelivered 747-8s in 2017 for the next VC-25B presidential aircraft (now registered N894BA and N895BA). These jets are now significantly overbudget and delayed, although Boeing is working to deliver the first in 2027 and the second in 2028.
The Boeing 747-8s being converted as the US Air Force’s next generation E-4C Survivable Airborne Operations Center (aka ‘Doomsday planes’) are ex-Korean Air, so don’t count as undelivered “new” Boeing 747s.
Featured Image: Boeing
