Trump completes first flight on the VC-25B bridge aircraft as Air Force One
US President Donald Trump has taken his first flight on the new Air Force One presidential aircraft. On 1 July, the president, along with his entourage, took off from Andrews Joint Air Base, located close to Washington DC heading for Medora in North Dakota.
The flight marked the first time that the aircraft carrying new tail number 25-3300, acquired as a gift from the state of Qatar in 2025, has been used to operate a presidential mission using the callsign ‘Air Force One’.
The new Air Force One presidential aircraft enters service
On 1 July, the aircraft set off from Andrews Joint Air Base and headed to Bismarck Municipal Airport (BIS) in North Dakota.
From there, the president then travelled by train and road to Medora for the opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, as well as engaging with other celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of the United States.
Travelling with his sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., as he climbed the stairs of the aircraft, Trump told reporters that, “To be honest with you, I am excited about the first flight. Nobody’s ever seen anything like it. This will be the first flight of what I think is maybe the greatest commercial plane ever built.”
“They just completed it. They made it appropriate for a president. That means the security and all the different bells and whistles they put on – very complex stuff. But it’s really quite something,” he added.
Notably, one of the US Air Force’s two VC-25As with tail number 92-9000 served as a backup aircraft for the trip. As reported by Aerospace Global News, this was the aircraft that last flew Trump on a presidential mission while travelling back from the G7 summit in France on 18 June.
Maiden voyage on the new Air Force One! pic.twitter.com/svD3StjUkk
— Steven Cheung (@StevenCheung47) July 1, 2026
Following that mission, several White House staff members posted online that the flight would be 92-9000’s last mission flying as Air Force One and would be downgraded to a support role thereafter.
The end of a long-running saga involving the Qatari jet?
The US president introduced the controversial $400m bridge aircraft last month as the replacement for the military-grade 747-200B that has transported US presidents for more than three decades.
The gifted Boeing 747-8 is expected to remain in service with the 89th Airlift Wing’s Presidential Airlift Group until the US Air Force receives a new fleet of two Boeing presidential aircraft in the next two years.
These were originally ordered in 2017 but have been marred by delays and cost escalations for years. The projected cost of those two specially built aircraft has increased from $3.7bn to $5bn since they were ordered. The first is now due to enter service in mid-2028, just months before President Trump leaves office.
The bridge aircraft was built for the Qatari royal family in 2013 and has been described as “a flying palace.” Larger than the previous two VC-25A aircraft that had previously operated as Air Force One, the aircraft has required a special hangar to be constructed at Andrews Joint Air Base to accommodate it.
The bridge plane is “safe, secure, and equipped with the most advanced technologies necessary to meet the requirements of the presidential mission,” said the US Air Force in a press release on 18 June.
According to the statement, the aircraft upgrades focused on operational readiness rather than appearance, resulting in the plane’s interior layout being largely unaltered.
“Those requirements were carefully crafted to prioritise mission over aesthetics, leaving much of the previous Qatari head of state’s interior layout minimally changed,” added the US Air Force statement.
The aircraft was gifted to the US government in 2025 and underwent modifications to prepare it for use by Trump. The conversion of the Qatari Boeing 747 was estimated to have cost around $1bn and was carried out by US military contractor L3Harris in Texas.
What is next for the bridge aircraft?
When questioned by reporters in North Dakota about how much federal money it had cost to upgrade the gifted aircraft with the necessary defence and communications systems, Trump replied, “It cost very little relative to what it would cost if we did it a different way. This was a gift from a country that has treated us very well.”
Painted in a new red, white, blue and gold colour scheme, the VC-25B bridge aircraft is the first time in 60 years that a Boeing designated as Air Force One has not featured the light blue livery that was selected by First Lady Jaqueline Kennedy.
According to Trump, the new Air Force One will be leading a “massive flyover” of Washington, DC, on 4 July to celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday, alongside F-22 Raptors, F-35 Lightning IIs and other military aircraft.
Featured image: US Air Force
