Unbeknownst to the press and some White House staff, President Trump reportedly used a catering cart to transfer between flights.
Published August 11, 2026
Air Force One acted as a decoy as US President Donald Trump secretly changed planes in Turkiye last month and took off in a small military plane after an assassination threat from Iran, according to US media reports.
Although President Trump promised to depart from the NATO summit in Ankara on July 8 on a vintage Air Force One, he was actually placed in a catering container and then flown to the United Kingdom on a small C-32A plane, the Washington Post and New York Times reported.
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The “deception operation” was prompted by Iran-related threats against President Trump, the Post quoted a U.S. official as saying.
Iran’s threat had previously been reported as a reason why President Trump did not fly out of Turkiye on the new Air Force One (a Boeing 747-8 donated to the United States from Qatar) that he was using to enter Turkey.
Trump said at the time that he planned to use older Boeing 747s to “think about the past.” However, multiple US media outlets reported that the threat from Iranian-linked militants prompted the switch.
“Many enemies have their eyes on him.”
Journalists who thought they were traveling with President Trump on the outdated Air Force One, which was effectively used as a decoy, reported being advised to keep the press room window shades closed, further raising security concerns. The Post said that apart from reporters, some White House staffers also believed the president was in favor.
Trump stepped off the defunct Air Force One and appeared before the media after arriving in the UK, but it was unclear how he got from the C-32A to the plane, the Post reported. President Trump then flew to Washington, D.C., on a new plane gifted to him by Qatar.
In response to reports of Trump’s change in planes, White House communications director Steve Chiang defended the jet gifted by Qatar and said the United States was using “every tool at its disposal” to counter foreign threats.
“The new Air Force One is a state-of-the-art aircraft with high-level security protocols to ensure the safety of the president and his staff,” Chan said in a statement. “As the President has said recently, there are many enemies of America who have their sights set on him, and we are using every tool at our disposal to address those threats.”
