Amid Crises, Obama's Busy Social Schedule Means Double Duty for Air Force One

In the past two weeks, President Obama has twice interrupted vacation and fundraising trips to take presidential planes to Washington for a brief period, only to turn around and fly back to his earlier location — once after just a few hours in the White House. Why the peripatetic travel schedule? Well, there was a wedding and a bachelor party involved — and an expensive mix of socializing, work, and vacation.

On Thursday, the White House announced Obama would travel to Westchester, N.Y., on Friday to attend a Democratic fundraiser. The president would then travel on to Newport, R.I., later in the day for another fundraiser. Then he would return to Westchester, where he would spend Friday night. On Saturday, Obama would attend the wedding of his personal chef and family friend Sam Kass and MSNBC’s Alex Wagner at the tony Blue Hill at Stone Barns near Westchester. After the wedding, Obama would fly back to Washington.

On Friday, the White House abruptly announced a change in plans. Instead of overnighting in Westchester, Obama would fly from the second fundraiser in Newport back to Washington, where he would arrive at the White House a little after 11 p.m. Obama would fly back to Westchester 16 hours later, on Saturday afternoon, to attend the wedding.

Obama took what is known colloquially as “baby” Air Force One, comparable to a Boeing 757 commercial airliner. Figures from 2013 say “baby” Air Force One cost $42,918 per hour to operate, while the larger, Boeing 747 Air Force One cost $179,750 per hour to operate. However, newer reports indicate the big Air Force One now costs $228,288 an hour to operate, so it is likely that the (somewhat) smaller version costs significantly more than the 2013 figure, too.

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