| In 2018, Donald Trump agreed to buy a new Air Force One, but after years of delays, the presidential plane still isn't ready. Trump has since checked out an alternative. Bloomberg aviation reporter Julie Johnsson explains. Plus: The Elon, Inc. podcast asks what Musk's millions mean for Wisconsin politics, and the Going Viral series explores why a mascot for a Mexican pharmacy is showing up on concert stages. If this email was forwarded to you, click here to sign up. The designation Air Force One for the president's plane dates to the Eisenhower administration. The current version is a 747 (actually two of them, so POTUS can get a ride even when one is in the shop) that went into service during the presidency of George H.W. Bush. For Donald Trump, that's just too darn old. During his first term as president, Trump directed the Pentagon to plunk down $3.9 billion for a pair of Boeing Co. 747-8s to serve as the next generation of the icon of American might wherever it lands. Trump is still waiting. And it's unclear whether he'll be able to fly either plane before his second term ends in 2029. Boeing has struggled with the complexity of converting the aircraft into the sophisticated flying fortresses required to transport the commander in chief. The delays have led Trump to start looking elsewhere for a new plane, and his eye has fallen on a Qatari-owned 747 dripping in the kind of gilded, leather-swathed luxury that the former real estate developer is known to crave. On Feb. 15 the plane touched down in West Palm Beach, Florida—a 10-minute drive from Trump's redoubt at Mar-a-Lago—after flying overnight from Qatar. A few hours later, Trump ascended the stairs for a closer look at the lightly used jet with opulent cabins worthy of a superyacht.  Trump's motorcade parked next to the Qatari Boeing 747-8 during his tour in February. Photographer: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters The tour lasted 72 minutes, the White House calendar shows, before the president deplaned for a round of golf. The visit demonstrated his willingness to break with protocol and consider an interim plane—with a foreign pedigree at that. "I'm not happy with Boeing," Trump told reporters aboard the current Air Force One a few days after the tour. "We may do something else. We may go and buy a plane." Over the past decade, the Qatari jumbo has been on call for Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, one of the royal family's wealthiest figures. The 66-year-old billionaire made his name as a prolific dealmaker while serving as prime minister and head of the sovereign wealth fund from 2007 to 2013. Al Thani's initials—HBJ—are featured in the plane's registration number (P4-HBJ), but his stamp is more easily seen in the plane's sumptuous interior. Its creamy white and tan furnishings, rugs and artwork are the brainchild of Cabinet Alberto Pinto, a Paris interior design firm known for clients who skew royal and oligarchic. There are custom-made Tai Ping rugs, sycamore and wacapou wood fixtures, and artwork by Alexander Calder. The spacious upper deck has a master bedroom and bath, guest bedroom and private lounge, and downstairs there are lounges, an office and crew areas, with seats for a total of 89 people. The Qatari plane is one of a very small pool of Boeing jets that might serve as a stand-in for the delayed presidential aircraft. Only 18 of Boeing's hump-backed 747 jets are in private service worldwide, mostly in the Middle East, according to Brian Foley, a consultant who tracks business aviation. Although only a single, older-model 747 is publicly listed for sale, Foley says it's possible others could be quietly marketed. The Qatari model—a 747-8, the final version produced by Boeing before it ended production in 2023—is one of them, according to people who've asked not to be identified as the proceedings are confidential. The jet might be available at the kind of knockdown price the president is fond of. "There's not a lot of affinity for used 747s," Foley says. "They're not as expensive as you might think." The plane was built in 2012 and delivered to Qatar Amiri Flight, which manages aircraft for the country's ruling family, though more recently it's been operated by a different company, according to the Cirium Ascend Consultancy. The asking price isn't known, but the plane would likely sell for $75 million to $100 million, Cirium says, while the interior, completed a decade ago, could add on $25 million more. The base price would roughly equal that of a smaller, late-model Gulfstream, but that's because the jumbo's four engines consume about $12,000 worth of kerosene per hour of flying time—almost eight times as much as a Gulfstream. The Qatari jet lacks the classified communication and weapons systems that have delayed the next Air Force One jets. While Boeing and US Air Force officials work through the technical challenges for those aircraft, the planemaker or another contractor might do a lighter upgrade of the Qatar aircraft's defenses and install anti-jamming devices. Even with those modifications the plane wouldn't be as tricked out as the real deal, meaning the aircraft might be used only for domestic flights, with the current models handling overseas travel. By mid-June, Boeing and the Air Force are expected to determine where the new jets stand, and further delays are likely. Elon Musk and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency have even looked over the situation to find ways to hasten the refurbishment process, Boeing has said. The company declined to comment further. The White House and the Department of Defense didn't respond to requests for comment. What's not clear: why the White House would kick the tires on a jet that's the pinnacle of luxury while it trumpets its efforts to slash government waste. And it's far from certain how the acquisition of the Qatari plane would be funded—or even if Trump is seriously pursuing it, with some saying it's simply a negotiating tactic to push Boeing to pick up the pace. "There's absolutely no reason the current Air Force One would not soldier on," says Richard Aboulafia, a managing director with consulting firm AeroDyanmic Advisory. "It's a manufactured crisis." | 
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