Standing by in San Antonio: the luxury plane from Qatar intended to replace Air Force One

The luxury Boeing 747 gifted to the U.S. government by Qatar is standing by at the San Antonio, Texas, airport, awaiting a specialized overhaul from a defense contractor so that President Trump can use it as the next Air Force One.

It’s not clear how quickly the plane — which touched off a firestorm of ethical, legal, political and security concerns just ahead of Trump’s trip to the Middle East last week — will be ready to take the skies with Trump aboard.

The Air Force will take ownership of the plane once the paperwork to pass it over is complete, and then the retrofit can begin, according to a U.S. official, who was not authorized to speak to reporters on the record.

The Air Force did not comment publicly on the plans, and the White House earlier Monday deferred all questions to the Air Force.

“The president, frankly, has nothing to do with it,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday.

Qatar’s offer of the $400 million plane came to light as Trump was leaving for a trip that took him to Doha as well as stops in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. On that trip, Trump said Qatar intends to spend more than $1 trillion on business deals with the United States, including a big order of Boeing jets from Qatar Airways.

The White House said the plane was a gift to the Department of Defense, and would go through the legal protocols required when something is given to the government. Trump said he would not use the plane after he leaves office — though he wants to park it in his presidential library one day.

“I appreciate it very much. I would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer,” Trump said.

Experts say retrofitting the plane would require years of work

But experts say outfitting a plane like this to make it suitable for use as the presidential aircraft normally would entail at least a few years of work, stripping the plane down and adding what’s necessary to make it safe enough to carry the president.

That timeline means it may not be ready until Trump is out of office. Shortcuts in the retrofit could create national security risks, experts said.

“They wouldn’t be able to install the kinds of capabilities you typically find on an Air Force One,” said Richard Aboulafia, managing director of AeroDynamic Advisory, describing a retrofit timeline of less than four years.

“In terms of encrypted communications, to electronic warfare, to back-up power systems — it wouldn’t have any of that in that time frame,” Aboulafia said. “Anybody on that jet would be advised to use burner phones and watch what they say.”

Nicholas Veronico, a former NASA contractor who worked on 747s and is an author of a book on Air Force One, agreed that a shorter timeframe would be problematic.

“If the conversion can be done within a year and President Trump is flying around the world in this new less-than-Air-Force-One Air Force One, then he’s flying in a compromised airplane. And we’re putting our president at risk,” Veronico said.

Members of Congress have also sounded the alarm, including some of Trump’s Republican allies.

“I prefer a big, beautiful plane built in the United States, made in America, bought in America,” said Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo.

Senate Democratic Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer has proposed banning the Air Force from retrofitting foreign planes as presidential aircraft.

Trump has bristled at the criticism, saying it wouldn’t make sense to turn down the gift.

“Why should our military, and therefore our taxpayers, be forced to pay hundreds of millions of Dollars when they can get it for FREE from a country that wants to reward us for a job well done. This big savings will be spent, instead, to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!,” Trump said on social media.

“Only a FOOL would not accept this gift on behalf of our Country.”

NPR’s Tom Bowman and Deirdre Walsh contributed to this report.