By Marcus Weisgerber
When the Qatari royal family acquired a luxury jet for its private fleet more than a decade ago, the Boeing 747 was outfitted with the lavish furnishings and ornate adornments that would befit one of the world's wealthiest families.
Now, as the jumbo jet is expected to become President Trump's own this summer, officials say the plane's lavish interior will look remarkably similar.
The jet has undergone a $400 million overhaul to prepare it for the president. Those modifications, however, haven't centered on aesthetics, but rather top-secret communications gear that would enable the commander in chief to run the country from the skies.
Alterations to the interior have focused on removing the Arabic-language exit signs and the contemporary artwork once enjoyed by the Qatari royals. But the oversize leather seats, plush couches and even the faux library bookcases are all staying, albeit with U.S. presidential seals now affixed to the walls, officials said.
The description is the first public accounting by the Air Force on its efforts to overhaul the Boeing 747 as the president's new ride.
"By and large, the airplane that we're getting is in the same condition from an interior perspective," Gen. Dale White, the four-star Air Force officer tasked with the high-profile project last year, said in an interview.
The luxury jet was gifted to the U.S. by the Qatari government last year after Trump complained that the planes he was required to fly on as president were too old and small.
Trump's willingness to accept the jet as a gift from a foreign power raised a number of ethical and security concerns, including by some conservative allies. Trump said he would be "stupid" to turn it down.
Trump didn't provide the Air Force direction on the interior, Air Force officials said, although the president did select the red, white and blue design that will be painted on the exterior.
Officials said a firm timetable on delivery hasn't been set. The plane has completed flight testing, though, and is expected to arrive at Joint Base Andrews outside of Washington, D.C., this summer.
The plane's posh interior will be notably more opulent than the current Air Force One, which is known for its smaller dated domestic business-class seats and utilitarian conference rooms.
"The level of detail that the foreign nations put into their head-of-state airplanes are very different than the approach that the United States uses, which is a lot more utility focused," White said.
Air Force officials stressed that security was a paramount concern.
"This is going to be an airplane that's going to carry the president of the United States," White said. "We did not take any shortcuts as it relates to making sure security was exactly what it needed to be."
Trump has taken a keen interest in buying new jets to serve as Air Force One since his first term in the White House, keeping a model of the new aircraft in the Oval Office.
The two current Boeing 747s used for Air Force One are nearly 40 years old, entering service during the administration of President George H.W. Bush. They are expensive to operate and break down more frequently, as one did in January not long after Trump departed Washington for Davos.
Around the time Trump was re-elected in 2024, Air Force officials began researching options for acquiring a plane that could serve as interim Air Force One.
The Air Force identified 10 Boeing 747-8 in a VIP configuration, a service official said. None was in the U.S. The Qatari plane was one of the planes on the list.
In February 2025, President Trump toured the Qatari plane in Palm Beach, Fla., near his Mar-a-Lago club. By May of that year, the Trump administration had entered into talks with the Qatari government about acquiring the plane as a gift, a move that raised legal and ethical concerns.
After the Qataris transferred the plane to the Air Force in May 2025, it was then flown to a L3Harris Technologies facility in Texas. There, the interior was then taken apart to ensure there were no bugs or spying technology hidden inside, Air Force officials said. White and other Air Force officials declined to give specifics of how the plane was swept for threats.
"The full force of the United States government and the agencies that exist inside of that government have been instrumental in allowing us to be able to make sure that it is a secure aircraft," White said.
L3Harris did the majority of the modification work, while Boeing provided technical assistance as the original manufacturer.
Officials said the decision to retain the interior was aimed at keeping the modification costs down and getting it done quickly. Changes to the interior would have required custom orders, and the Federal Aviation Administration would then need to certify the aircraft.
"Our ultimate customer gave us flexibility not to focus on the aesthetic pieces," White said.
Two Boeing 747s still under contract to become the next full-time Air Force One have in part been delayed because of issues with creating custom interiors. The company doing the original interior work went bankrupt in 2021.
"I cannot understate the complexity and engineering involved in setting up the interiors for a head-of-state type airplane," White said. "There are so few contractors in the world that can do that effectively."
The current two Air Force One 747s have some capabilities the new Qatari jet won't.
The Qatari plane has fewer refrigerators than the existing planes, meaning other aircraft flying with it might have to carry the president's food. Installing the additional refrigerators would have been a significant engineering undertaking, according to an Air Force official.
The plane will only have one set of its own air stairs, which would be used in locations that don't have commonly used truck-mounted air stairs. Adding the self-deploying stairs would have involved "significant structural changes to make the doors larger," White said.
Unlike the current Air Force One, which has a dedicated press cabin, the media seating arrangements will be different on the Qatari plane. Since building walls would have delayed the delivery of the plane, the press seating will be separated from staff seats by a thick curtain, the Air Force official said.
Also, the new Qatari jet won't be able to fly "Golden Eagle" missions -- the name given to flights carrying the remains of a former president onboard.
White said that limitation is the result of officials opting not to install larger doors in the rear of the aircraft. The result is that if a former president dies before one of the two new Air Force One jets are built, the remains would be flown aboard one of the existing two Air Force One 747s.
Write to Marcus Weisgerber at marcus.weisgerber@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 01, 2026 15:21 ET (19:21 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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