By Mike Stone
WASHINGTON, July 8 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he will fly an old Air Force One plane from Turkey to the UK ‘for old time’s sake’, with the new plane given to the U.S. by Qatar visiting the same base in the UK, according to a post on Truth Social.
Trump said the newly overhauled Air Force One will fly to RAF Mildenhall in the United Kingdom so U.S. service members stationed there can tour the aircraft.
The new plane is a Boeing 747 gifted to the United States by Qatar last year and refitted by defense contractor L3Harris Technologies.
The jumbo aircraft has been painted in a red, white, dark blue and gold livery chosen by Trump, marking a departure from the iconic design used on Air Force One for decades.
“Everybody is so excited and we thought that they should be the first,” Trump wrote, adding that the outgoing Air Force One would make the trip from Turkey to Mildenhall “for old time’s sake.”
The Qatari jet’s acceptance had drawn scrutiny. Retrofitting the luxury plane required security upgrades, communications improvements to prevent eavesdropping, and missile defense capabilities, experts said.
(Reporting by Mike Stone in Washington; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
