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US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would use his old Air Force One plane to leave Turkey after a NATO summit, sending his new Qatari-gifted jet on ahead to the UK.
Trump said on his Truth Social network he was sending the new jet to Mildenhall airbase so that service members would have a “chance to tour the Aircraft.”
“Everybody is so excited, and we thought that they should be the first. For old time’s sake, we’ll be taking the former Air Force One, from Turkey,” Trump added.
But the switch from the new jet on its maiden foreign trip sparked speculation it was because its security features were lacking, particularly after Trump threatened fresh strikes against Iran, which borders Turkey.
Asked during a press conference whether the change was for security reasons related to Iran, Trump sidestepped the question by talking about previous alleged assassination attempts by Tehran.
“I speak about it a lot because the life of a president is very dangerous,” he said.
Pressed on why he wasn’t taking the new plane, Trump replied: “It’s flying to Europe to one of the big bases, two or three of the big bases, where we can show it to the people. And we’ll be going home by normal methods.”
Qatar’s royal family donated the 747-8 plane last year after Trump complained about the state of the two ageing jets that have served as the US presidential plane since 1990.
The new plane was rapidly retrofitted and equipped with security features before making its first flight with Trump on 1 July.
It features a new red, white and navy blue colour scheme in a change from the previous white and light blue livery.
Two brand new Boeing Air Force Ones are due to be delivered later this decade after a series of delays.
Critics have raised a host of ethical, constitutional and security concerns about the gifting of an aircraft worth hundreds of millions of dollars by a foreign power like Qatar.
Additional sources • AFP