One of its engines is missing parts. The other is wrapped in plastic. It’s sitting on a runway at an airport 65 miles north of the Trump Tower in Manhattan, which is in similar shambles. It hasn’t been flown since Election Day 2017. Trump’s abandoned it like his first two wives.
The Trump-branded Boeing 757, its gold toilet untouched by an orange tush for more than four years, would cost into the high six-figures to get back into operating condition, as well as $15,000 and $18,000 per hour to fly.
When Trump flew around the country in the plane with his name emblazoned on the side during the 2016 campaign, it was a symbol of his supposed wealth and intelligence. It now seems to be out of Trump’s view, according to CNN.
Trump often boasted about the powerful Rolls-Royce RB211 engines on the jet, claiming that he special-ordered them. (In fact, they’re standard for Boeing 757s built when the plane was manufactured.) And Trump never spoke of the plane’s humble beginnings as a jet for a Mexican airline. (Trump never discussed if he paid any tariffs to have the plane imported into the US.)
A experienced pilot estimated that the cost to replace one engine would run up to one million dollars. Depending on the number of hours of usage, both engines may have to be switched out on the Trump jet.
Trump, however, may have other expenses that he needs to deal with first. He’s got more than $350 million in outstanding debt that will come due in the next four years. Plus, he’s facing legal costs for potential civil and criminal charges from investigations into his finances.
Trump flew from Mar-a-Lago to New York City in a 1997 Cessna 750 Citation X, a small, ten-seat private jet that doesn’t have the size or the opulence of its larger counterpart. But in its defense, it does have engines, so it’s the plane Trump has used since exiting Air Force One on January 20, 2021. It looks like Trump Force One will be parked there for awhile longer.