A “minor electrical subject” compelled Air Drive One to show round and return to Maryland lower than an hour after takeoff Tuesday evening because it was headed for Davos, Switzerland, with President Trump aboard, White Home officers stated. The president then departed for Switzerland aboard a brand new airplane about an hour later.
White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt instructed reporters aboard the airplane that, after takeoff from Joint Base Andrews, the crew recognized a “minor electrical subject,” and, out of an abundance of warning, selected to show round and return to the bottom.
Air Drive One landed again on the base at 11:07 p.m. Jap Time.
A view of Air Drive One after returning to Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, on Jan. 20, 2026.
Chip Somodevilla / Getty Pictures
Reporters had stated that the lights within the press cabin briefly went out after takeoff, however no rationalization was supplied.
The president then boarded a brand new plane, which took off shortly after midnight. The second plane is an Air Drive C-32, a modified Boeing 757 usually utilized by the president for home journeys to smaller airports, in response to the Related Press.
Mr. Trump is headed to Davos for the World Financial Discussion board. He was scheduled to handle the discussion board at about 8:30 a.m. ET Wednesday, shortly after touchdown.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who’s already in Davos, stated Mr. Trump can be about three hours late.
“This shall be an fascinating journey,” the president instructed reporters on the White Home garden shortly earlier than departing for Joint Base Andrews. “I don’t know what’s going to occur. However you’re effectively represented.”
There are at the moment two modified Boeing 747s that function Air Drive One. Each have been in service since 1990. They have been set to get replaced in 2024 with modified Boeing 747s, however the completion of the primary alternative airplane was delayed till 2027, and the second delayed to 2028, in response to the U.S. Air Drive.
Final summer time, Mr. Trump confirmed that the Qatari royal household had donated a Boeing 747-8 jumbo plane valued at $400 million to the president to ultimately be used as Air Drive One. Nevertheless, renovating the airplane might value a number of hundred million {dollars} earlier than it could possibly be prepared to be used, Air Drive Secretary Troy Meink stated final June.
Jennifer Jacobs
contributed to this report.