The Qatari royal family has been trying for five years to unload one of the jumbo jets in their fleet, but they had been unable to find a buyer until they foisted the massive aircraft on president Donald Trump.
Airlines have been retiring the Boeing 747 over the last decade because they're too expensive to fly, cost more to maintain and require longer runways for landing, and the Qataris had struggled to find a buyer for one of their three remaining "flying palaces" before offering it to the U.S. president as a gift, reported Forbes.
“Qatar, like many modern states, is shifting toward leaner, more versatile aircraft, which offer better economics and more discreet presence for official travel,” said Linus Bauer, managing director of the Dubai-based aviation consulting firm BAA & Partners.
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Dumping the $400 million jumbo jet on Trump is a “a creative disposal strategy” that signals “a farewell to a bygone model of geopolitical theater in the skies," Bauer told Forbes.
The Qataris have been trying to sell the plane since 2020, and giving it to the president would save them massive amounts in maintenance and storage costs, aviation experts said, and would carry the added benefit of currying favor with the U.S. president.
“The market is incredibly illiquid for a jet like this,” said Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace consultant with Aerodynamic Advisory, who said these ostentatious giant planes are a security risk. These things are big targets.”
The 747-8 remains in high demand as a freighter due to its massive internal volume, but Qatar's jet would be impractical to convert because it was structurally and mechanically optimized for long-range flight with only a few passengers.
“It would require gutting the interior, reinforcing the floor, cutting a cargo door, and re-certifying structural integrity — an extremely expensive and complex process,” Bauer said.
The cost would be staggering to turn the Qatari jet into a highly specialized and secure airborne command center, and Aboulafia said that would take at least five years unless security requirements were loosened.
“I can't imagine any well-trained senior Air Force officer saying this is a good idea,” Aboulafia said.
The Qataris also gave a 747-8 to Turkish president Reycep Tayyip Erdogan in 2018 and an older model to an asset management firm, leaving Trump's gift plane as one of three 747-8s currently in the royal air fleet, but the royal family still has a number of other planes in their stable and enjoys access to Qatar Airways executive jets.
“I don’t think they’ll miss it," said business aviation consultant Brian Foley.