Trump departed Turkey on old Air Force One on insistence of Secret Service for 'security concerns': Report

United States President Donald Trump took the old Air Force One instead of the newly retrofitted Qatari-gifted plane on Thursday (July 9) to fly out of Turkey after the NATO summit as a precaution and escalating tensions with Iran, according to an ABC News report that cited sources familiar with the plans.

Earlier on Wednesday the Qatari-gifted plane left the NATO summit in Turkey for Mildenhall Air Force Base in England without Trump, who claimed that the move was for members of the military to tour the aircraft and had nothing to do with security concerns.

On the other hand when asked by reporters if security concerns caused the change in flight plans, Trump said he's "No. 1 on the kill list for Iran."

The change in plans was not largely prompted by a specific threat, but had to do with the plane's security capabilities, two US officials told ABC News.

When Trump left Turkey in the old Air Force One for England to link up with the new Qatari plane, passengers on the aircraft were instructed to keep their windows down during the flight. The plane also refrained from keeping its tracker on until it was over the Black Sea near Istanbul.

Qatari-gifted Air Force One

The retrofitted Boeing gifted to US by Qatar has come in to replace the ageing Boeing jets that have served as Air Force One for the last 36 years. Also there is a huge delay in the delivery of two new aircrafts ordered by US.

Though very high-tech and equipped with the state of the art facilities, the new plane lacks some of the security measures. According to the Associated Press the plane misses some of the missile detection and countermeasure systems used by the outgoing Cold War-era jets.

However the Air Force said the conversion of the jet was done “without accepting any risk regarding security, safety, or secure communications.”