President Trump is planning to take the Boeing luxury jet donated by the Qataris when he travels to Ireland next week, the first time he will use the plane overseas since questions were raised about its defensive capabilities, a senior administration official said on Friday.
Mr. Trump had said several weeks ago that the plane would be taken out of service for roughly a month for new security upgrades. It is unclear whether there have been any upgrades or any are still planned.
The Washington Post reported earlier on Mr. Trump’s plans to use the Qatari plane. A senior White House official, speaking on background, would not comment on specific upgrades to Air Force One.
The plane was retrofitted quickly to be pushed into service for Mr. Trump to use during his current term, after two new jets commissioned from Boeing for presidential travel were badly delayed. But those planes are built from the ground up as essentially flying presidential command centers, with extensive capabilities to fend off missile strikes.
The Qatari jet’s safety capabilities came into question after Mr. Trump last used it on a foreign trip, to the NATO summit in Turkey in July. Mr. Trump declared that he would fly on one of the older presidential aircrafts for his departure, instead of the Qatari jet that he had flown into Europe with, for “old time’s sake.”
Multiple people with knowledge of the matter said that there had been a security concern about him flying aboard the Qatari plane. The New York Times reported that the Qatari jet lacked defensive capabilities that the older models have.
People briefed on the matter later said that officials had learned of a threat to the president and Air Force One while they were in Turkey, prompting the switch.
Although he boarded the older plane at the Ankara, Turkey, airport, it later emerged that the president had been whisked off it and onto a military jet, leaving the older Air Force One aircraft as a decoy flight.
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