WASHINGTON, June 19 (DC Times Online) — President Donald Trump on Friday unveiled a refurbished Boeing 747-8i at Joint Base Andrews in Washington, D.C., as the Air Force said the Qatar-donated aircraft has finished modification and flight testing and is moving into commissioning flights before it enters operational service as an interim Air Force One.
The aircraft is meant to bridge the gap while Boeing continues work on two VC-25B replacement aircraft for the presidential fleet. The Air Force said the jet is part of a staged handoff process, not a completed replacement program, and that it will be used as a temporary presidential transport until the new Boeing aircraft are delivered.
Trump described the plane as a “flying White House” during the unveiling, presenting the jet as a refurbished presidential aircraft with a new red, white and blue exterior. The event put the long-delayed Air Force One replacement effort on display at one of the Washington area’s most closely watched military aviation sites.
The Air Force said the updated paint scheme will become the standard across the presidential and executive airlift fleet, including the VC-25B aircraft still under development. The new look replaces the light blue-and-white livery associated with the Kennedy era and gives the fleet a uniform appearance across the aircraft that carry the president and other senior U.S. officials.
The aircraft began as a Boeing 747-8i donated by the government of Qatar, according to the Air Force and reporting from Fox News, BBC, CNBC, Bloomberg and NPR. The military then carried out the modifications needed for presidential use, turning the commercial jet into the aircraft now being presented as the next interim presidential transport.
The Air Force said the plane has completed both modification work and flight testing. That matters because commissioning flights are the final phase of testing before the aircraft can be put into operational service, meaning Friday’s unveiling marked a visible step forward but not the end of the process.
The distinction between a public unveiling and an operational handoff is important for the presidential airlift program. The aircraft was shown at Joint Base Andrews, but the Air Force did not say the jet had already been placed into routine service for presidential missions.
Bloomberg reported that the aircraft is expected to be delivered to the Presidential Airlift Group in summer 2026. NPR and CNBC reported that the refurbished jet is intended to cover the gap until Boeing delivers the replacement VC-25B aircraft later this decade, with those plans described in the reporting as running to 2028.
That timeline keeps attention on the broader Boeing program. The VC-25B replacement aircraft are still under development, and the interim jet is meant to provide continuity while the long-term fleet upgrade remains pending.
The move also places Joint Base Andrews at the center of the program’s next phase. The Washington-area base is where the aircraft was unveiled, and it is where the Air Force has been showing progress on a project that has moved from acquisition to modification, then to testing, and now to commissioning.
The project’s stage-by-stage path has been a central part of the public rollout. The aircraft was first described by the Air Force in May as having completed modification and flight testing and as being repainted in red, white and blue. NPR reported on May 2 that the plane would be ready for Trump that summer, while Bloomberg reported the following day that the aircraft was on track for summer delivery.
The Air Force’s description of commissioning flights also shows that the plane is still in the final validation stage. Those flights are intended to confirm the aircraft’s performance and ensure the modifications work as planned before the jet is accepted for operational use.
The updated exterior is one of the most visible changes to the aircraft. Instead of the light blue-and-white scheme that has long been associated with presidential aircraft, the new design uses red, white and blue across the fuselage, and the Air Force said that look will carry through the presidential and executive airlift fleet.
Trump has tied the aircraft to broader celebrations as well. Fox News and CNBC reported that he said it could lead a July 4 or America 250 flyover in Washington next year, linking the jet to the larger symbolic role Air Force One often plays in presidential events.
The aircraft’s public rollout comes as the federal government continues to rely on a patched-together path to modernize its presidential transport fleet. Boeing is still responsible for the VC-25B replacement program, while the refurbished 747-8i is being positioned as the immediate bridge aircraft under Air Force control.
For Washington, the unveiling underscored how presidential aviation decisions remain concentrated in the region’s military infrastructure. Joint Base Andrews remains the visible site for the aircraft’s transition from a modified donor jet to a working part of the federal airlift fleet, with the Air Force still moving through the final steps before regular service begins.
