Air Force Chief Gives New Price Tag for Qatari Jet Retrofit

Secretary Troy Meink indicates the work will probably amount to less than $400 million.

Friday, June 06, 2025 at 11:00 AM ET

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The Qatari 747-8 on the runway at Palm Beach International Airport, where President Donald Trump toured it in February. [Shutterstock/Leonard Zhukovsky]

Key Takeaways:

The U.S. Air Force head estimates the cost to retrofit the Qatari jet into the new Air Force One will be less than $400 million, a figure lower than previous speculations reaching up to $1 billion.
The conversion of the Boeing 747-8i will involve extensive, top-secret modifications for security, encrypted communications, and defensive systems, a process expected to take years.
The deal has drawn criticism due to disputes over how the gift was offered and concerns from officials about potential conflicts of interest and security risks, including the possibility of listening devices.

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It will likely cost hundreds of millions of dollars to retrofit a Qatari jet given as a gift to President Donald Trump, the head of the U.S. Air Force said Thursday, but not $1 billion as speculated by some critics and probably not even $400 million, the figure first provided by the Trump administration.

Air Force Secretary Troy Meink told members of the House Armed Services Committee that earlier estimates put forward by some elected officials and the media were overblown, according to a report from The Hill.

Zach Vasile

Zach Vasile is a writer and editor covering news in all aspects of aviation. He has reported for and contributed to the Manchester Journal Inquirer, the Hartford Business Journal, the Charlotte Observer, and the Washington Examiner, with his area of focus being the intersection of business and government policy.