Air Force One was struck with another blemish on its reputation Tuesday when President Donald Trump’s trip to Davos was briefly derailed.
The presidential plane experienced an electrical issue on its way to the World Economic Forum in Switzerland – forcing the aircraft to make a U-turn and head back to Joint Base Andrews.
The modified Boeing 747-200B was less than an hour into its transatlantic flight when the crew suddenly made the call head back. Pool reporters on the flight noted that the lights in the press room briefly went out after takeoff.
The forced return took place as Trump was set to face off with European leaders to discuss his desire to take over Greenland.
The two aircrafts that make up the Air Force One fleet have aged – possibly in service since 1990 (when George H.W. Bush was president). Multiple presidents have called for more modern replacements.
In 2016, President Barack Obama awarded Boeing an initial contract to develop the new Air Force Ones, as the current planes were almost 30 years old at that point.
When Trump took office, he complained that the project costed too much and negotiated down the price with Boeing down to $3.9 billion.
The VC-25B planes were at one point supposed to be delivered under President Joe Biden’s term but that has since been pushed to 2029. The planes are also now expected to cost the federal government $5.3 billion.
President Donald Trump boards Air Force One on January 20, 2026. Later the same night, the plane would have to return to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland due to a ‘minor electrical issue’
In light of how old the current Air Force One fleet is, multiple presidents, going back to Barack Obama, have been wanting to replace it with new aircrafts
The delays have frustrated Trump, who returned to the White House exactly a year ago, to the degree that he sought out help from the Qatari royal family, who donated him a luxury Boeing 747-8 aircraft that will be used as the temporary Air Force One.
The Pentagon accepted the gift and has been retrofitting it with the necessary security upgrades it will need to have in order to function as the presidential plane until Boeing is able to finish its permanent replacement aircrafts.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt made a joke on the ill-fated flight on Tuesday that the Qatari jet is sounding ‘much better’ right now.
That jet is expected to be ready by February 2026.
Despite the urge from three different administrations to get new Air Force One planes, mechanical problems onboard the current fleet have been somewhat rare.
In November 2006, while then-President George W. Bush was in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, staff discovered that there were problems with six tires on the landing gear.
It was later determined that those six tires were blown out upon landing. This forced Bush to have to use a backup Boeing 757, while White House support staff were relegated to a United Airlines Boeing 747, CBS News reported at the time.
Two years earlier, in July 2004, Air Force One’s wing flap fell off its track while Bush was traveling to Tennessee, CNN reported.
The only two minor mishaps on the current Air Force One fleet occurred in 2004 and 2006, when George W. Bush was president
The prior Air Force One generation, Boeing 707s, was used by Ronald Reagan. One of the planes lost cabin pressure while Reagan was on board in 1984 (Pictured: Air Force One with Trump on board in February 2020)
The last issue of note on an Air Force One-designated aircraft happened in 1984, when Ronald Reagan was president.
The plane Reagan used wasn’t the same one Trump and the last six presidents before him used. It was a Boeing 707, which was introduced in 1958.
On September 5, 1984, a relay failure in an air vent caused a loss in cabin pressure on the plane while Reagan was on board.
The plane was at an elevation of 21,000 feet when pressure was lost, and some passengers reported experiencing pain in their ears.
The pilot took the plane down to 9,000 feet once the issue was known, and it later safely landed in Washington, D.C.
