President Trump departed Michigan on Monday aboard a freshly repainted Air Force One sporting a dark blue, gold, and red livery, replacing the iconic Kennedy-era design he has criticized for years.
Pool reporter Ana Ceballos of the Los Angeles Times spotted the new paint scheme as Trump's motorcade pulled into Oakland County International Airport ahead of his flight back to Washington, D.C. The Boeing 757 that carried the president wore a dark blue exterior accented by a gold stripe and red trim, a sharp departure from the robin-egg blue and white look that has defined the presidential fleet since the early 1960s.
The redesign caps a push Trump began during his first term, when he publicly called for scrapping the baby-blue palette chosen by Jacqueline Kennedy more than six decades ago. Newsmax reported that Trump has long advocated for updating the aircraft's appearance to project what he described as a more "American" look.
From Oval Office model to tarmac: a redesign years in the making
Trump first unveiled a model of his preferred color scheme in June 2019, sitting in the Oval Office alongside Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. He told reporters he favored a red, white, and blue design and claimed the modernized program would save roughly $1.5 billion over the previous plan. Breitbart reported at the time that the new look drew inspiration from Melania Trump's fashion sensibility, a deliberate echo of how Jackie Kennedy's taste had shaped the original livery.
The project stalled when President Biden reversed Trump's color directive in March 2023, reinstating the Kennedy-era scheme for the replacement jets Boeing was building. Trump made clear the reversal would not stand.
"We want power blue, not baby blue," Trump said. "Everything has its time and place. We'll be changing the colors." Those words, reported by the Associated Press, proved prophetic. After returning to office, Trump reinstated his preferred design, and the Air Force moved to implement it across the executive fleet.
Pentagon confirms fleet-wide repaint in Trump's chosen colors
The change extends well beyond the single 757 seen in Michigan. A Department of the Air Force spokesperson confirmed that the service is applying a red, white, gold, and dark blue paint scheme to the VC-25B replacement jets, two Boeing 747-800 aircraft being modified to succeed the aging 747-200s that have served presidents since the late 1980s.
The same colors will also cover a Boeing 747-8i donated by the government of Qatar and pressed into service as an interim Air Force One. That aircraft has already been transformed into a flying White House, with over 250 personnel working roughly ten months to outfit it with wood paneling, gold fixtures, and an expanded press cabin.
A Washington Examiner report confirmed that four C-32 aircraft, the Boeing 757 variant used by Vice President JD Vance and other senior officials, will also receive the new livery. One C-32 has already been repainted and is expected to reach the Air Force within months.
An Air Force Two C-32A sporting the new colors was spotted flying from Majors Airport in Greenville, Texas, according to the New York Post. Four of the eight C-32As in the Air Force inventory are slated for the makeover.
Qatar-donated 747 already flying, and already controversial
The Qatar-gifted 747-8i has drawn its own share of attention. Trump unveiled the refurbished jet at Joint Base Andrews and announced it would lead a historic July 4th flyover as part of the America 250 celebration. Air Force Secretary Troy Meink framed the project in operational terms.
"The safety and security of the commander in chief is our highest priority."
Fox News reported Meink's remarks alongside Trump's own explanation for the overhaul.
"Our country has to be represented properly."
That jet's path into the fleet has not been seamless. The Secret Service pulled Trump off the Qatari aircraft during a stop in Turkey as Iran strikes escalated, raising questions about whether the interim plane carried the same defensive systems as the standard Air Force One.
Separately, the Justice Department subpoenaed four New York Times reporters over a leak involving Air Force One security details, a case that underscored the sensitivity surrounding the presidential aircraft program.
Kennedy's baby blue finally gives way after six decades
The light blue and white livery that Monday's flight replaced had endured since the Kennedy administration. It became one of the most recognized symbols of American presidential power, but Trump viewed it as dated. He first signaled his dissatisfaction publicly in 2018, and by 2019 he had a model on his desk.
Biden's decision to reverse the redesign in 2023 added a political dimension to what might otherwise have been a straightforward procurement question. When Trump returned to office, he moved quickly to restore his directive, and the Air Force confirmed it was executing the change across the entire executive airlift fleet.
The new 757 scheme spotted in Michigan closely resembles the exterior design of the Qatar-donated 747-8, suggesting a unified look is taking shape across the fleet. Whether the resemblance reflects a formal design standard or simply a shared aesthetic direction remains unclear, no official has publicly addressed the question. Trump has previously swapped between the Qatari jet and the older Air Force One depending on mission requirements, but the consistent paint scheme signals an intent to present a cohesive presidential fleet.
Several details remain unresolved. The cost of repainting the fleet has not been disclosed. The delivery timeline for the two Boeing 747-800 replacement jets, which will eventually become the permanent Air Force One aircraft, has not been publicly updated. And the precise moment the 757's new paint job was completed has not been announced.
Presidents put their stamp on plenty of things that don't last. A paint scheme on the most visible aircraft on earth is one that will be hard for the next occupant to ignore.
