U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he tours the VC-25B aircraft gifted by Qatar that will be used as Air Force One, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, U.S., June 19, 2026. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
Reporters received exclusive tours of the new Air Force One, a former Qatari jet reported to have "gold plating throughout" to match the design requests of President Donald Trump.
The tours offered the public their first look inside the plane.
The aircraft, designated the VC-25B Bridge, arrived Friday at Joint Base Andrews after a $400 million military overhaul that added secure communications and anti-missile defenses to the Boeing 747-8 once owned by the Qatari royal family.
The U.S. Air Force kept the interior largely intact.
"This feels more like a house than a plane," Daily Caller White House correspondent Reagan Reese wrote on X.
She counted solid wood tables, lounge couches, photos of the National Mall in the conference room, and a presidential seal on every seatbelt buckle. The press cabin is two to three times the size of the old plane's.
Center Square Washington bureau chief Sarah Roderick-Fitch saw white leather, wooden paneling, cream carpet, and silver accents. The decor was "simple, but elegant," she wrote.
GB News Chief U.S. Correspondent Ben Leo called it "INSANE."
Trump's office and meeting rooms, he said, were "better than five star hotels." He counted 24 press seats reclining fully flat and four Rolls-Royce engines.
"This plane was transformed into a flying White House at a level of luxury that nobody has ever seen before," Trump said as "God Bless the USA" played.
"Nobody tops this one," Trump said of landing at foreign airports, "and that's the way we have to have it for our country."
The New York Times reported Trump's personal plane has "gold plating throughout, including on the seatbelt buckles," and that he wanted "gold trim" on the new jet.
The Qatari interior, by French firm Alberto Pinto Cabinet, featured gold-colored walls and gold furnishings. The Air Force said the layout was kept "minimally changed."
Qatar gifted the 747-8 amid ethics objections. Sen. Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat, called it a "brazen" violation of the Constitution's Emoluments Clause. Trump dismissed the criticism as "stupid."
The plane will complete commissioning flights before entering presidential service. Trump has promised it will lead a flyover of Washington on July 4.