Airfare on Air Force One

(photo: gredge/flickr)

USA Today reports that Air Force one, a Boeing 757 used to carry the U.S. president, costs the Air Force $179,750 per hour to operate based on a Congressional Research Service report.

That's a lot of money when compared to what we feel are expensive airfares for our own airline tickets. However we as taxpayers are covering the costs of trips for official business. The article indicates that information on the cost of presidential flights are scarce but offered these figures. A European trip in 1989 cost the Air Force $1 million and a trip to Hawaii in 1990 cost $1.5 million.

These amounts are just the cost to operate the aircraft without related expenses such as food and lodging which are costly. These related costs for presidential trips in 1998 totaled $42.8 million for Africa, $10.5 million for Chile and $18.8 million for China.