Turning Qatari jet into Air Force One would cost ‘less than $400 million,’ Air Force secretary says

US President Donald J. Trump deplanes a VC-25A of the 89th Airlift Wing, Presidential Airlift Group, Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland on Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Michigan, April 29, 2025. (US Air National Guard photo by Senior Airman Nathan Wingate)

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration’s plan to accept a Boeing 747 donated by the Qatari royal family and modify the jumbo jet to serve as a new Air Force One will cost hundreds of millions of dollars, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said, the first estimate the service has offered for the controversial project.

During a hearing held by the House Armed Services Committee Thursday, Meink disputed estimates offered by Democratic members of Congress and some analysts that the jet’s retrofit could cost over $1 billion. Additionally, Meink said he wasn’t sure whether a troubled Boeing project to modify two 747 aircraft to serve as presidential jetliners could be accelerated to achieve a delivery date of 2027.

“I think there has been a number thrown around on the order of $1 billion,” Meink said in response to questions from Connecticut Democrat Rep. Joe Courtney. “But a lot of those costs associated with that are costs that we’d have experienced anyway, we will just experience them early. Buying additional platforms for training, for spares, things like that are actually the majority of that amount. So it wouldn’t be anywhere near that.

“We believe the actual retrofit of that aircraft is probably less than $400 million,” he added.

The Pentagon on May 21 accepted the luxurious Qatari aircraft, setting in motion President Donald Trump’s plan to militarize the jet despite bipartisan concerns about security and ethics. The president has pushed for the Qatari aircraft to serve as a temporary Air Force One amid delays with the separate Boeing project, which he negotiated in his first term. 

Trump previously told reporters that the jet would be transferred to his presidential library after his term concludes, but that it would be an exhibit similar to the one on display in former President Ronald Reagan’s California library. “I wouldn’t be using it,” he said.

L3Harris has reportedly been tapped to carry out the modification work. The Air Force has previously confirmed to Breaking Defense it is readying to award a contract to convert the plane, but has declined to elaborate on details. 

Meink also said at Thursday’s hearing that before officials started working to recover the schedule for the Boeing project, the delivery date “was in the [20]30s, I believe”— a significant setback for the program that was originally supposed to deliver the first plane this year. However, Courtney replied that the last “guesstimate” was 2029. Boeing has since proposed loosening some of the project’s requirements to deliver the aircraft as soon as 2027, though Meink said he was not sure about that possibility as officials work through finalizing a new schedule. 

“Is it going to get back into ‘27? I couldn’t guarantee that,” Meink said. “But we are doing whatever we can to pull it back.” Asked to comment on the schedule, Boeing referred comment to the Air Force.