How Trump landed 'free' Boeing jet from Qatar & why experts think 'it's ridiculous': Inside story

“We’re the US. I believe that we should have the most impressive plane". US President Donald Trump has been rather forthright about his desire to buy a new Air Force One jet, replacing the current plane which has been in service for 35 years.

The inside story of how the Trump administration managed to acquire a $400 million Boeing 747-8 from Qatar, "free of cost", is as remarkable as it is unusual.

According to an investigation by The New York Times, Trump's decision to acquire the plane sparked controversy in Washington over ethics, transparency and practicality.

The exercise itself involved weeks of secret coordination between Washington and Doha, with Trump’s Middle East envoy Steven Witkoff playing a key role, the report said.

Love at first sight

The aircraft in question, a lavishly outfitted Boeing 747-8, had been used by Qatar’s royal family and was once offered to Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as a gesture of goodwill. Despite boasting interiors with “soft fabrics of the highest quality” and “a lavishly designed bathroom that is almost a piece of art,” the plane had remained unsold on the market for years.

According to the NYT report, all major airlines in the world were unwilling to purchase the plane since it was not configured for commercial use.

The plane has four engines, which are expensive to maintain and operate. Moreover, acquiring parts over time will become more difficult as well since the planes are no longer manufactured, the report added.

However, when the president set his sights on the aircraft in February at Florida’s Palm Beach International Airport, near his Mar-a-Lago resort, he was impressed.

“It’s a big beast,” aerospace engineer Marc Foulkrod, who had previously tried to help Qatar sell the plane, told NYT. “Boeing made a great airplane, and it’s a classic piece when you do the VIP version.”

After that visit, Trump reportedly spoke of the jet as if it were already his, imagining a quick retrofit and paint job that would render it ready within a year, the report said. But that vision ran headfirst into bureaucratic and ethical headwinds.

Initially, the Pentagon and Trump’s White House aides had assumed the US would "buy" the jet. But by May 11, Trump publicly described it as “a GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE.” That shift raised eyebrows — and alarm — among ethics experts and members of Congress.

The idea of a foreign government gifting such an asset — estimated to be worth between $150 million and $180 million — to the United States for the use of a single individual immediately drew bipartisan scrutiny.

Democrats raised "substantial ethical issues" over the deal.

Qatar denied that the gesture was meant to curry favor with Trump, with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani telling CNN: “Why would we buy an influence in the United States?”

Sources told CNN that the initial discussions were about leasing the plane and not buying it outright.

Trump administration officials told NYT that Qatar had floated the idea of donating the plane to the US President, which would be easier than selling it. But government officials in Qatar maintained that they expected to make a sale and didn't mean to give the plane as a "gift".

It’s still unclear how a plan initially expected to involve a US purchase turned into a Qatari gift. But what’s clear is that US-Qatar ties are already strong—anchored by a major American air base in Qatar and significant spending from both sides.

'Qatar wanted to help'

The president himself claimed that Qatar offered to help him since "Boeing was very late" in delivering the new Air Force One. "Qatar heard about it, and he’s a great leader. And we were talking, and he said, ‘If I can help you, let me do that.’ And they had a plane,” Trump said during an interview.

Trump also insisted the plane was not for personal use and said it would eventually go to his presidential library. He cited the example of Ronald Reagan’s library, which displays a decommissioned Air Force jet.

'It's ridiculous'

However, experts warned that retrofitting the Qatari plane for presidential use would not be easy or quick. The Pentagon has already spent years outfitting its new Air Force One jets with secure communications, missile defence, and EMP protection systems — upgrades that would cost over $1 billion if applied to the Qatari jet, the report said.

“It is ridiculous. That’s a better dollar value than trying to take an airplane from somebody else and trying to make it into a presidential plane. It makes no sense," Foulkrod told NYT.

Even if the transfer were finalized, operating and maintaining the aircraft would add significant costs. According to Pentagon documents reviewed by NYT, staffing an Air Force One plane alone costs over $37 million annually, with total annual operating costs estimated at $134 million.

The Qatari aircraft is currently parked in San Antonio, and legal teams from both countries are still reviewing the matter. No deal has been signed yet, and no new appropriation has been approved by Congress to refit or maintain the plane.

Trump’s aides have floated the possibility of hiring military contractor L3Harris to carry out the retrofits, though the source of funding remains unclear.