Qatar-Donated 747-8 Flies 121-Mile Dublin-to-Shannon Presidential Leg, Detours Over Irish Open as Rory McIlroy Searches for Ball

A Qatar-donated Boeing 747-8 serving as an interim U.S. presidential aircraft completed what is believed to be its shortest publicly documented presidential flight on record, covering approximately 121 miles from Dublin to Shannon, Ireland, in roughly 38 minutes. The aircraft took off shortly after 1:12 PM local time, became airborne by 1:23 PM, and touched down at Shannon at 2:01 PM, making a deliberate detour over the Doonbeg golf resort with sharp aerial turns before heading toward Shannon.

The flyover coincided with the Irish Open. Rory McIlroy had just driven into trouble on the third hole and was searching the dunes with his caddie when the 747-8 swept overhead; play briefly stopped as golfers, spectators, photographers and journalists turned to watch the aircraft pass. McIlroy eventually located his ball but finished the hole with a double-bogey six. Passengers aboard watched Fox News on the cabin televisions as the network showed live footage of the aircraft's arrival, and after landing at Shannon the president transferred to Marine One for the final leg to Doonbeg.

VC-25A tail number 29000, an older member of the presidential fleet, accompanied the 747-8 as a support aircraft during the Ireland trip. The VC-25A's shortest well-documented presidential flight was a 2013 journey from Ben Gurion Airport in Israel to Queen Alia International Airport in Jordan, approximately 59 nautical miles (68 miles) in about 35 minutes, roughly 53 miles shorter than the Dublin–Shannon sector. The 747-8, valued at approximately $400 million, continues to serve as an interim presidential aircraft while awaiting security upgrades pushed beyond the 2026 midterm elections, a transition also marked by an incident in which an emergency escape slide deployed inside the cabin during an earlier flight.