The last few years have been difficult for Boeing after multiple commercial wrecks, labor standoffs and investigations into its safety culture. Aviation experts suggest things might get easier for the company if a $400 million luxury Boeing jet offered to President Donald Trump as a gift by the Qatari government gets refashioned into the new Air Force One.

But Trump’s willingness to accept the jet is not going over well on Capitol Hill or among some of his biggest supporters.

Boeing’s stock value is up more than 60% since its April lows when China decided not to accept any more orders from the aircraft giant, as Beijing and Trump continued battling in a prolonged trade war. Since then, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund announced plans to order 30 Boeing 737 MAX jets, according to Bloomberg. Qatar also signed a $200 billion agreement to purchase jets from the troubled aircraft maker during Trump’s visit to the gulf country this week.

This is a far cry from where the company started out the year.

Boeing was cash-starved in late 2024, with large financial losses from a brutal labor strike and after two 737 Max crashes killed 346 people. The company agreed to plead guilty to deceiving the Federal Aviation Administration during the certification process for the plane.

It borrowed $10 billion from several banks and rolled out plans to raise $25 billion by selling stock and debt.

That comes on top of the contract Boeing hammered out with the Air Force in 2018 to build a new Air Force One fleet for $3.9 billion. Construction costs associated with equipping them with the necessary technologies for flight grew to $5.3 billion, according to a Pentagon estimate in 2019.

The project was expected to be completed last year, but the jets are now unlikely to arrive until after Trump’s term because of severe cost overruns. They could be ready within two years if some requirements are reduced, according to Darlene Costellow, principal deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, technology and logistics.

It’s a gift for Boeing, also

If Qatar follows through on gifting the Trump administration a jet, refurbishing the plane would likely go to Boeing as its original manufacturer, aviation experts say.

“Since you’re also disassembling and reassembling the jet for security reasons, you’re probably going to go with the people who know it better,” Richard Aboulafia, an analyst and consultant on commercial and military aviation, told NBC News recently. “If you have to rip the plane apart, that’s more of a Boeing job.”

Getting the jet prepared is an intensive procedure, as it requires dismantling the plane to scan for listening devices, spyware, or other security vulnerabilities. Converting the plane under a new contract could help Boeing supplement lost money on the fixed cost of the original contract.

“This would be a real relief for Boeing,” Aboulafia said.

Lawmakers aren’t on board

Trump’s willingness has been met by bipartisan criticism.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, is planning to block Trump’s Department of Justice nominees until the administration provides more details about the plane. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-TX, told CNBC this week he’s worried about national security implications.

The president addressed those concerns on Fox News earlier this week, saying: “My attitude is, why wouldn’t I accept a gift? We’re giving to everybody else, why wouldn’t I accept a gift?”

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, treaded lightly when asked about it.

“Other nations give us gifts all the time, but, um, I’m gonna leave it to the administration. They know much more about the details of that, OK? I’m just, it’s not my lane,” he said on Wednesday.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, said he wouldn’t accept it.

“There’s a lot of things Qatar can do for us that would be a lot more helpful than a plane, so on the plane I’d say thanks, no thanks, we’re going to build our own planes in the United States of America, we build them pretty good,” he said.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, wondered if accepting the gift was worth it given the cost of retrofitting it.

“It’s going to have to be put through a lot of paces and probably every square inch analyzed before I think the president should consider it as a primary means of transportation. … I mean, we’re in a world of DOGE, so we got to figure out whether it’s worth upfitting,” Tillis said.