Trump Takes Flight in New ‘Bridge’ Air Force One

There’s a new Air Force One: The Boeing 747-8 acquired from Qatar is now officially flying as the VC-25B “Bridge” presidential aircraft.

The airplane, a gift to the U.S. by the Qatari royal family, and equipped at U.S. government expense to meet presidential airlift requirements, made its official debut July 1, carrying President Donald Trump from Joint Base Andrews, Md., to North Dakota, using “Air Force One”—the call sign given to VC-25s carrying the President—for the first time.

MAIDEN VOYAGE https://t.co/b1RBlnbrFt pic.twitter.com/Xbqm2NHXwV

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 1, 2026

Trailing behind, an earlier vintage VC-25A flew backup, using the call sign “SAM,” standard procedure for Special Air Missions involving VC-25 flights not carrying the President.

The Pentagon officially took ownership of the Bridge jet in May 2025, and contractor L3Harris began modifications in September, wrapping up the work in just 10 months. That breakneck pace stands in bold contrast to the long-delayed official VC-25B program, which is years late.

Both the new Bridge aircraft and the future VC-25Bs are modified 747-8s, but requirements for the two are different.

The Bridge plane is “safe, secure, and equipped with the most advanced technologies necessary to meet the requirements of the presidential mission,” the Air Force announced in a June 19 press release. “Those requirements were carefully crafted to prioritize mission over aesthetics, leaving much of the previous [Qatari] head of state interior layout minimally changed. No risk was taken in security, safety, or mission communications, but the collective team made trades on some of the less commonly used mission sets that Boeing must deliver to support the next 40 years.”

Images posted on social media by Trump administration officials of the first VC-25B Bridge flight show some of that interior.

The final cost to modify the Bridge aircraft remains under wraps. Air Force Secretary Troy Meink estimated a year ago that the project would cost less than $400 million, but final costs have not been released.