US President Donald Trump said that the Qatari-donated jet that served as an Air Force One plane would soon be sent away for upgrades, following questions about the plane’s security features.
Trump started flying aboard the jumbo jet on July 1 after accepting the plane as a gift last year, when an accelerated effort to renovate the Boeing 747 for presidential use began.
But Trump unexpectedly ditched the plane on a flight from Turkey to the United Kingdom amid rising hostility with Iran on July 8. He flew aboard an older Air Force One to London in what he described as a move “for old time’s sake”, but later boarded the new plane to return to the US.
Trump was asked about whether the newly renovated aeroplane lacked missile-defence capabilities as he returned home from a trip to the Fifa World Cup final in New Jersey on Sunday.
“It has a lot of capability,” Trump said of the plane. “But as I understand it, in about a month or so, they’re gonna send it to have it be maxed out … It’ll take about a month.”