The president boarded the older Air Force One at the end of the NATO summit in Turkey in July, as the White House had said he would. He was then moved to a much smaller aircraft, and the plane the press corps was on flew as a decoy.
The Washington Post reported the switch, and The New York Times corroborated it. The transfer was made in an airport catering truck of the kind used to carry meals and supplies. Trump crossed to an Air Force C-32A — a Boeing normally flown by the vice president and senior cabinet members — while journalists and some White House staff stayed aboard the Boeing VC-25A without being told. The reporting says the press were instructed to keep their window shades down for the flight. The C-32A flew on to Britain under the call sign "Reach 18."
The stated reason is a credible Iranian threat against the president or his aircraft. At the time, the White House explained an earlier aircraft change as giving US service members at the base a chance to tour the plane; the reporting attributes it to Secret Service concern amid the renewed conflict with Iran.
The president had not commented publicly on the account at the time of writing.
Why it is on the board
It was the most-read item on The New York Times on Monday and reached the board on that ranking alone. NYT publishes the ranking but not the article text to non-subscribers, so the account here is taken from the Washington Post's report and from Forbes' summary of it.
Sourced from The Washington Post, The New York Times and Forbes.