WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump faces questions about the security of his new Air Force One plane gifted by Qatar, after he took an older jet home from a Nato summit this week.

The billionaire president has barely been able to contain his excitement over the retrofitted Boeing 747-8 aircraft, which took him to Ankara on its maiden trip outside the United States.

But then Trump abruptly announced in Turkiye that he was sending the luxury plane on ahead to a British airbase — saying it was so US troops could tour the plane donated by the Qatari royal family.

The New York Times reported on Friday that the new plane lacked the same security countermeasures boasted by the older jet, including anti-missile defences. US media also reported that the Secret Service had advised the switch.

Speculation was fuelled by the fact that US hostilities had flared again with Iran, which borders Turkiye, and because journalists on the old plane out of Ankara were also told to keep their window blinds down, a step normally reserved for war zones.

Trump himself denied any security concerns – but after switching back to the new plane for the flight from the UK to Washington, he referred to alleged Iranian assassination attempts.

“You’re probably on a dangerous flight because of the sleazebags we have to deal with,” he said.

The White House defended the new plane’s safety. “The new Air Force One is a state-of-the-art aircraft that has been fitted with high-level security protocols that ensure the safety of the President and his staff,” Communications Director Steven Cheung said in a statement on Friday.

“As the President has said recently, there are many enemies of America who have their sights on him, and we use every tool at our disposal to address those threats.” In a similar statement on Thursday, Cheung said those tools included “distraction and misdirection,” in an apparent reference to the plane swap.

Published in Dawn, July 11th, 2026