In advance of the upcoming US election in November 2024, the Republican Party team supporting the Trump-Vance candidacy has unveiled images of the aircraft that will ferry Senator James David Vance of Ohio between events across the country in the lead-up to the election.
The Boeing 737-800 operated by Eastern Air Express was rolled out of a hangar at Kansas City Airport (MCI) on July 15, 2024, displaying large ‘Trump-Vance’ decals on the forward section of the predominantly white fuselage. While the upper rear section displays ‘Make America Great Again’ titles above the window line in red, the navy-colored tail is adorned with a stylized US star and stripes flag.
The aircraft will provide additional lift capacity to the Trump-Vance ticket as the campaign against the Democratic Party and their likely candidate President Joe Biden ramps up towards election day on November 5, 2024. The aircraft joins Trump’s own private plane, a Boeing 757-200 (registered N757AF) dubbed by the media as ‘Trump Force One’, which Trump has owned and retained for his personal use for 13 years.
The newly rolled out 737-800, registered as N917XA, is almost 22 years old, having first been delivered to German carrier Air Berlin in September 2002. The plane then served with Orenair of Russia, US-based XTRA Airways (now trading as Avelo Airlines), and lastly, iAero Airways until the carrier filed for bankruptcy earlier in 2024.
The aircraft is one of 19 Boeing 737s that Eastern Air Express acquired from iAero to add to its executive charter fleet. According to ch-aviation, the operator also has six other 737s in its operation comprising two 737-300s, three 737-700s, and a single 737-700QC.
Eastern Air Express, a subsidiary of Miami-based Eastern Airlines, was formerly known as Hillwood Airways, a Fort Worth, Texas-based charter operator. The airline was at one point a subsidiary of The Perot Group of companies owned by Ross Perot, a US billionaire who himself ran for the US presidency in 1992 and 1996.
According to data acquired from Flightradar 24, N917XA was ferried from Greensboro Piedmont Triad International Airport (GSO) to Kansas City Airport on April 14, 2024, where it has been in maintenance since. The aircraft then undertook a post-maintenance air test on July 14, 2024, flying for 46 minutes and reaching an altitude of 41,000ft before it landed back at Kansas City.
Presidential candidates of previous election campaigns have traditionally used commercial aircraft to get around the US as they crisscross the country drumming up support for their campaigns. Donald Trump relied on his 757 in 2016 to get around, alongside a chartered Eastern Airlines 737 used by his running mate Mike Pence, although he had access to Air Force One for the 2020 campaign as sitting President.
Meanwhile, Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush both used chartered 757s for their campaign trails, while in 2008 Senator John McCain used a Boeing 737-400 which carried the nickname of ‘The Straight Talk Express’.
