President Donald Trump will travel for the first time on the new Air Force One aircraft Wednesday, according to the White House.
Trump will be traveling to North Dakota to visit the Theodore Presidential Library as part of the country’s 250th anniversary celebrations, marking it the inaugural use of the Qatari-donated aircraft over a week after the U.S. Air Force began its commissioning flights.
The aircraft had to undergo significant renovations to deem it suitable for presidential use, and after the modifications “final exam,” it must complete an unknown amount of commissioning flights that allow the White House to confirm mission-capability and finalize protocols for the president’s safety.
After the flights are completed, the aircraft will be officially “commissioned” into the active executive airlift fleet and available for presidential use alongside the VC-25A and C-32 fleets.
The commissioning flights have yet to be completed, and a timeline has not been made clear.
One of the original VC-35As previously used by Trump took its last flight a day prior to the aircraft’s commissioning flights commencing.
Initially, plans to replace the aging VC-35A with two new VC-25B were slated for 2024, but supply chain issues and a lack of properly cleared workers delayed Boeing’s plans until 2028, causing the president to use the luxury jet Qatar donated to the U.S. in 2025.
The new Air Force One Boeing 747-8i sports the red, white and blue livery that Trump initially sought during his first presidential term in 2018.
In addition to taking the new Air Force to North Dakota, the president also confirmed during the aircraft’s unveiling at Joint Base Andrews its use for the early July NATO leaders’ summit in Ankara, Turkey.
He also hinted that “at some point” this year, the administration will be traveling to China using the plane.
Trump is scheduled to appear in South Dakota on Friday for a fireworks show, but it is not clear what aircraft Trump will use to attend the demonstration.
Cristina Stassis is a reporter covering stories surrounding the defense industry, national security, military/veteran affairs and more. She previously worked as an editorial fellow for Defense News in 2024 where she assisted the newsroom in breaking news across Sightline Media Group.
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