The Secret Service advised President Donald Trump to depart Turkey aboard the older Air Force One rather than the recently upgraded aircraft gifted by Qatar, recommending the switch as a precaution as tensions with Iran intensified, multiple people familiar with the planning told ABC News.
The Qatari-provided jet had departed the NATO summit in Turkey earlier in the day for Mildenhall Air Force Base in England. Trump said Wednesday morning that the aircraft was being sent there so members of the military could tour it.
Although Trump maintained that the aircraft change was unrelated to security concerns, he also repeated to reporters, when asked whether safety issues had shaped the revised flight plan, that he is “No. 1 on the kill list for Iran.”
Two U.S. officials told ABC News the decision was not driven by any specific threat, but was influenced in part by differences in the security capabilities of the two aircraft.
The New York Times was first to report the Secret Service’s recommendation. The White House did not immediately answer ABC News’ request for comment, and the Secret Service has not yet issued a response.
When Trump ultimately departed Turkey on the older Air Force One to meet up with the newer plane in England, passengers were told to keep their window shades down during the trip. Flight data also showed that the aircraft carrying the president did not activate its tracker until it was over the Black Sea near Istanbul.
Even as he continued to deny that a security concern led to the plane switch for his departure from Turkey, Trump suggested passengers may have been instructed to lower their shades because they were “probably on a dangerous flight.”
“Well, yeah, because you’re, you know, probably on a dangerous flight, because of the sleaze bags that we have to deal with,” Trump said, referring to Iran.
While the administration insists that the newly acquired plane meets the safety and security requirements necessary to fly the president, the speed of the retrofitting, which took about one year, has raised questions about whether the Qatari-gifted plane boasts the same defensive security measures as the old plane.
Many of the details of the retrofitting on the new plane are considered classified.
On Tuesday, a group of Senate Democrats sent a letter to Air Force Secretary Troy Meink demanding transparency into the project from the Air Force and L3Harris, claiming the administration is ignoring national security concerns so in service of delivering Trump a “fancy plane for his personal enjoyment.”
Trump took his first trip in the newly retrofitted plane last week on a trip to North Dakota.
Before the first trip, the U.S. Air Force had been modifying the jet in Texas since September to meet the security, communications and other needs to transport the president. The Air Force had estimated it would cost less than $400 million to retrofit the gift.
The plane is to be used as the new Air Force One until shortly before Trump leaves office, at which time ownership of the plane will be transferred to the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Foundation, sources familiar with the proposed arrangement have told ABC News.
Copyright © 2026 ABC News Internet Ventures.
