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Air Drive One experiencing a minor mechanical points as President Donald Trump started his journey to Davos, Switzerland, Tuesday night proved his level that the U.S. must replace its presidential aircraft, the White Home informed Fox Information Digital.
“The minor mechanical problem proves that President Trump was proper once more,” White Home spokeswoman Anna Kelly tolf Fox Information Digital.
“The brand new Air Drive One will likely be a welcome donation to the US Air Drive, not only for the President, however for your complete Air Drive One crew,” she added.
The Division of Protection in Could 2025 formally accepted a 747 jetliner from Qatar to function a brand new Air Drive One, which might function a alternative for the 2 present Air Drive Ones.
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President Donald Trump disembarks Air Drive One, on his return from Detroit, Michigan, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, on January 13, 2026. (Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters )
The brand new jet will likely be set to take to the skies in the summertime of 2026, The Wall Road Journal reported Wednesday, following the Pentagon retrofitting the jet and brushing via it for safety and spying units.
Each Democrats and Republicans criticized Trump after he introduced the Division of Protection deliberate to just accept the jumbo jet from the federal government of Qatar in Could 2025, arguing the present is riddled with each espionage issues and constitutional questions.
“The Air Drive stays dedicated to expediting supply of the VC-25 bridge plane in assist of the Presidential airlift mission, with an anticipated supply no later than summer season 2026,” an Air Drive spokesperson informed the outlet.
Fox Information Digital reached out to the White Home Thursday for added touch upon the matter.
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Air Drive One skilled a “minor electrical problem” after takeoff at 10:20 p.m. and returned “out of an abundance of warning,” White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated Tuesday night.
Reporters on the flight stated the lights within the cabin went out earlier than the aircraft returned to Maryland round 45 minutes into the journey.
Leavitt joked aboard the aircraft {that a} Qatari jet sounded “significantly better” in the intervening time, Fox Information Digital beforehand reported.
President Donald Trump disembarks from Air Drive One as he arrives at King Khalid Worldwide Airport on Could 13, 2025, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Win McNamee/Getty Pictures)
Trump not too long ago left Davos, Switzerland, after attending the World Financial Discussion board, which attracted overseas authorities leaders, celebrities and enterprise titans to debate the world’s financial system. Trump’s journey got here as he pressures European nations to ink a deal that will hand management of Greenland to the US from the Kingdom of Denmark.
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The aircraft’s problem comes after a yearslong saga by Trump elevating issues that the present presidential aircraft is a long time outdated and in want of repairs, whereas pinning blame on Boeing for failing to swiftly construct a brand new fleet.
A Boeing 747-8 sits on tarmac. (Getty Pictures)
“We’re very upset that it is taking Boeing so lengthy to construct a brand new Air Drive One,” Trump stated throughout a press convention in Could. “You recognize, we now have an Air Drive One which’s 40 years outdated. And for those who check out that, in comparison with the brand new aircraft of the equal, , stature on the time, it is not even the identical ballgame.”
Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg acknowledged Trump’s dissatisfaction with the pace of constructing two Boeing 747 jumbo jets in February 2025, and stated the corporate was working to hurry the method alongside. The U.S. authorities continues to carry a contract with Boeing for the planes, with the Air Drive reporting in December 2025 that the primary jet needs to be delivered by mid-2028, in response to Air and Area Forces Journal.
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Trump had railed towards a authorities cope with Boeing to construct a brand new fleet of Air Drive Ones forward of his first administration, posting on social media in December 2016 that the “prices are uncontrolled, greater than $4 billion” to construct the 2 plane.
Fox Information Digital’s Michael Sinkewicz contributed to this report.
