By Pete Muntean, Alexandra Skores, CNN
Washington, DC (CNN) — When President Donald Trump departed Turkey this week, he boarded a 35-year-old modified Boeing 747, not the newly converted plane parked across the tarmac that had been introduced with much fanfare just days earlier.
The decision intensified scrutiny of the Qatari-donated jet, which was converted on an unusually compressed timeline, raising questions about whether it received the communications, security and defensive upgrades necessary to serve as the heavily fortified “flying White House.”
The latest flight happened as the United States launched strikes on Iran, which shares a border with Turkey.
Air Force One could be a “dangerous plane because of the sleaze bags we have to deal with,” Trump said shortly after takeoff on the old jet. “These are sick people, so I could see something like that.”
There was no specific, new threat to Trump’s life, sources told CNN; however, the president had mentioned the possibility of an assassination attempt from Iran during the NATO summit.
The former Qatari jet was flown for the first time by the president at the start of July after about a year of upgrades and conversions.
Several Republican senators expressed misgivings about accepting the plane, pointing to the potential for security and legal risks. Trump’s intention to send the plane to his presidential library after he leaves office also raised ethical concerns.
“There’s never been a plane like this ever built, and there will never be a plane like this built again,” Trump said at the plane’s unveiling on July 17.
The accelerated conversion has led some aviation and security experts to question whether every critical upgrade was completed before the aircraft entered presidential service.
Experts notice key differences
Most details related to Air Force One are classified for security purposes, but there are some obvious visible changes from the Boeing 747-200s delivered during President George H. W. Bush’s term.
Aside from the new paint scheme and larger size, the Boeing 747-800 aircraft sports more fuel-efficient engines and a longer range.
The White House has not publicly detailed the defensive upgrades but said the changes were focused on essential systems and not cosmetic updates.
“By making minimal changes to the previous head-of-state interior, the Air Force fielded the aircraft faster without accepting any risk regarding security, safety, or secure communications,” a senior administration official told CNN.
However, some experts are concerned about how the roughly year-long effort to modify the aircraft may not have been sufficient to fully harden it for operations in high-threat airspace.
Trump wanted the new plane in the air by July 4, and made his first trip in it on July 3, to Bismarck, North Dakota, to attend the opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library.
“It was a schedule driven modification,” Frank Kendall, the former Air Force secretary under the Biden administration, told CNN.
“To do that, they would have had to leave out a lot of things that are on a regular Air Force One,” he said. “You have to add all the things that are required for the president, and that’s why it takes so long and costs so much money. So, they did what they could with the time that they had.”
It remains unclear what defensive systems the new plane has. While it may not be needed for a trip to North Dakota, flying in the Middle East can pose different threats