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Trump welcomes NEW Air Force One with signature, announces historic flyover

June 20, 2026 | | Print Article

Highlights from the unveiling of the president’s newest “executive platform” included a special signature and a surprise for corporate media that begged the question, “Are you smiling?”

(Video Credit: White House)

Friday at Joint Base Andrews, President Donald Trump welcomed the media in for a press event where he greeted members of the U.S. Air Force and debuted the new Qatari-gifted Air Force One. Deeming it the “world’s most luxurious plane,” the chief executive added a personal touch with his John Hancock and demonstrated his hospitality to the press by promising a tour that led to the “First time I’ve seen them smile in years.”

Presented with a new color scheme that eschewed baby blue for the darker Old Glory blue, paired with red and white, Trump exited the aircraft to Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.” before offering remarks in which he spoke about the origin of the plane.

“We were at a little bit of a log jam with the, I call them the normal 747s. And I asked the emir if we could use the brand new 747 that he got when we first heard about it,” explained the president. “And I said we’d like to use it for a little while ’cause the planes are pretty old, our planes are old. See, a normal president wouldn’t do this. A normal president wants to stay away from aircraft. We don’t want to order any aircraft so that everybody thinks — but our country has to be represented properly.”

“This is considered the world’s most luxurious plane when it was built. It was built at a level that will probably never be seen again,” he went on to add before surprising the media. “And if the press would like, I don’t know if it’s gonna help me with stories. I don’t think there’ll be any difference, but what we’re going to do is take you for just a quick tour. The press is actually — oh, look at them! They’re actually smiling.”

“Are you smiling? First time I’ve seen them smile in years. They don’t smile at Republicans. They should smile at Republicans because we’re the ones that make America great,” said Trump.

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Following the tour, Daily Caller White House correspondent Reagan Reese shared some of the details that were sure to keep the press smiling, explaining, “It’s big and beautiful. Like, ‘this feels more like a house than a plane’ big. Warm tan walls. Glossy. Silver accents throughout. Solid wood tables. Presidential seal on every seat belt. Couches in the lounge. Photos of the National Mall in the conference room. The press area is 2-3x the size of the old plane’s. The seats recline all the way flat into a bed. And yes. It has that new plane smell.”

Along with touting the aircraft’s ability to remain airborne virtually indefinitely with midair refueling, the president gave a shoutout to Elon Musk as he made note of the communications equipment’s inclusion of Starlink, “My friend Elon is going to be very happy.”

What’s more, the plane that is expected to reside in the future presidential library of the 45th and 47th president upon the end of his second administration was even signed by Trump, who made his mark on a mechanical panel beside the signatures of others.

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While the Air Force and media were able to see the craft up close, the rest of the nation will get to see the plane take part in America’s semiquincentennial celebration as the president announced it was expected to lead an Independence Day flyover “the like of which we’ve never seen before.”

Kevin Haggerty
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