(WASHINGTON) -- "No final decision has been made yet" about the future of the new Air Force One jet donated by Qatar following President Donald Trump's second term, a White House official told ABC News.
Trump has pledged for more a year that the new Air Force One, a Boeing 747-8 that was given to the president in a controversial move, would be transferred to his presidential library after his term concluded.
Sources familiar with the proposed arrangement have previously told ABC News that ownership of the plane will be transferred shortly before Trump leaves office to the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Foundation.
Questions about the president's plans for the plane remain -- including whether Trump would keep it for personal use, if he would leave it for the next president as part of the Air Force One fleet, or if there are other plans in store.
The gifted plane has long been expected 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 previously told ABC News.
The White House official's comments on Wednesday followed reports from NBC News and The New York Times that called into question the fate of the plane.
Trump's son Eric Trump reportedly told NBC News in a text message that it was "not the plan" for the jet to be delivered to the library. "No. That's not the plan at the moment for Miami," he reportedly texted the outlet.
Eric Trump, who is involved in developing his father's presidential library in Miami, suggested that an older decommissioned Air Force One jet would instead be going to the library, not the Qatari-gifted one, NBC News reported.
The Qatari royal family's donation of the luxury jet valued at approximately $400 million, an unprecedented foreign gift, raised questions from some lawmakers and ethics experts.
The Air Force last year originally estimated it would cost less than $400 million to retrofit the plane to meet stringent security standards, though it's unclear how much exactly has been spent so far.
Prior to the jet's first presidential flight in July, the U.S. Air Force said it had been modifying the jet Texas since September to meet the security, communications and other needs to transport the president. Many of the details of the retrofitting on the new plane are considered classified.
Trump in July said plane would be further "maxed out" with security features, undergoing an upgrade that was expected to put it out of commission for about a month in the near future.
Those comments came after the plane carried Trump to July's NATO summit in Turkey. As Trump prepared to depart the summit, the Secret Service urged the president to take the older Air Force One jet as a precaution, due in part for the differences in security capabilities, ABC News learned at the time.
When asked in May 2025 by ABC News' Rachel Scott about the future of the plane, the president said it would be sent "directly" to his presidential library after he leaves office, adding, "I wouldn't be using it, no."
Trump repeatedly referenced former President Ronald Reagan's library as a model for his own. A Boeing 707 Air Force One jet was retired to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, in 2001.
"Someday, it will be like Ronald Reagan, they decommission them," Trump said during the May 2025 event. "You know, they get to a certain age, they decommission them. It'll go to my library. They're talking about going to my library in years out."
ABC News' Rachel Scott contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
