Qatar dumps an expensive plane, Trump thinks he's getting a gift
FILE - A Boeing 747 with the color scheme of planes used by the Qatari royal family is seen Friday, May 2, 2025 at San Antonio International Airport in San Antonio, Texas. President Donald Trump said this week that he wants to accept the $400 million plane, and that it would later be donated to a presidential library.
Qatari officials had a problem: They were stuck with this jumbo jet, “a palace in the sky” — expensive to operate and maintain, and one of the remaining gas-guzzling planes they have been trying to unload. They’re a lot like a guy who gets tired of filling up that three-city-blocks-to-a gallon Hummer he bought years ago to impress his friends. These days, Qatari officials want smaller, nimbler, more versatile planes that go unnoticed on the tarmac as they slip in and out of town. So, what to do with these ostentatious monstrosities of the sky, they wondered, because as one expert said, "The market is incredibly illiquid for a jet like this." While many have speculated that the Qataris have offered Trump the luxurious plane to curry favor with the famously transactional president, there may be a simpler rationale: they just don’t want it anymore.. Giving it away could save Qatar’s rulers a big chunk of change on maintenance and storage costs, aviation experts told Forbes. Making Trump happy would be an added bonus. Qatar, which has given away another blinged-out 747 and may have mothballed two more, epitomizes the fading demand for these huge, fuel-guzzling, highly personalized airplanes. There aren’t many who want to buy them, and many of the governments and royal families who own them have been trying to ditch them over the past decade. which is probably why the Qataris’ gift to Trump flew only 1,069 hours in the five years before it was put on the market in 2020, according to Forbes’ report. Trump is peeved that Boeing, currently working on two jets for presidential travel, is years behind schedule. Delivery, originally promised in 2024, is now 2029. Trump envisions using the jet during his presidency, then taking ownership of it via his presidential library when the new jets are delivered. Putting aside the argument that it’s illegal for Trump to accept such a gift without Congressional approval — and that some GOP elected officials are using words like “espionage” and “unconstitutional” to describe the gift — experts disagree that it would be foolish to turn it down. It would cost hundreds of millions of dollars to be modified to serve as an airborne command center, with encrypted communications systems, shielding that would protect the electronics from the effects of a nuclear blast and defenses against missiles, Forbes reported. That would take at least five years starting again from scratch, one expert said. And even if Congress appropriated the money to modify the jet — and that’s a long shot — making those changes won’t be simple. Boeing already is struggling with problems with suppliers for interior components of the presidential jets, the wiring design, and finding workers with security clearances to work on such a sensitive project. There’s an old saying that a boat owner’s happiest days are when he buys a boat, and when he sells it. For the Qataris, that’s probably true about jumbo jets.Billionaire Trump explains what ‘groceries’ are and is immediately roastedIf you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation.and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our
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