President Donald Trump plans to fly to Ireland next week aboard the Boeing 747 gifted to him by Qatar, marking his first international trip on the jet since a July security threat forced him to secretly leave Turkey on an alternate aircraft.

The decision underscores Trump’s continued reliance on the Qatari plane despite concerns that it lacks some of the security features of the heavily fortified Boeing 747-200B jumbo jets that have carried presidents for decades. Trump said in July that the new plane would be sent away to be “maxed out” to address those concerns, but the White House has not announced a schedule for the work, which could slip until after the November midterm elections.

“The new Air Force One is a state-of-the-art aircraft that has been fitted with high-level security protocols that ensure the safety of the President and his staff,” White House communications director Steven Cheung told The Washington Post last month. However, the administration has not said how much more it will need to pay to improve the jet in the coming months. Former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt previously said modifications would begin in the fall and take about a month to complete, but security experts have been skeptical that the necessary upgrades could be made on that fast a timeline.

The U.S. has already spent $400 million retrofitting the Boeing 747 from Qatar. The gift from the Qatari government and royal family is an unprecedented arrangement largely intended to address Trump’s frustration with delays in replacing the fleet of decades-old planes known as Air Force One. The Air Force awarded a contract to Boeing in 2017 to purchase two 747s for presidential transport, but it is not clear if they will be ready before Trump’s term ends in January 2029. The Government Accountability Office has estimated that the costs to enhance the 747s now exceed $5.6 billion.

Secret Decoy Operation in July

Questions about the aircraft’s security emerged just weeks into its use, when Trump traveled on it internationally for the first time to the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey. He did not take the jet on his return flight after the government received intelligence about a potential Iranian threat to attack it. Trump initially claimed he departed Turkey on the “former Air Force One,” but reporting by The Post revealed that after boarding the old plane in front of TV cameras, he was secretly shuttled to an Air Force C-32A on a catering truck. Trump flew the C-32A to Britain with a few personal aides and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, while several other Cabinet members, White House staff and the traveling press remained on the old Air Force One, which had become a decoy.

Despite the security scare, Trump is poised to use the Qatari-gifted plane more frequently as he ramps up campaign-season travel. He is scheduled to travel to Texas next week to headline the Republican miniconvention in Dallas and has said he will be traveling to Alaska and other states with tight races before the Nov. 3 elections. The Ireland trip, however, is more personal: Trump plans to attend the Irish Open at his golf course in Doonbeg, though officials say he will also hold official meetings. The BBC has reported he plans to meet with Irish President Catherine Connolly and Prime Minister Micheál Martin.