Originally Posted by
relangford
So you think the USAF (read: White House) will go with a B747-8 over, say, a B787-9, to replace the VC-25s? Is a 4-engine double-decker better for the President than a more modern (read: fuel efficient) B787? I not asking to cause trouble, I just don't know why the 747 would be used (is there a practical/strategic reason?).
I don't think that fuel efficiency is high on the list for requirements for Presidential transport (and a vehicle that also functions as a backup national military command center!)
On a more serious note - other posters have mentioned the security/reliability of 4-engines, but I think there is also an important consideration and that is the President's transport, whether it's the limo or the plane is an essential part of projecting the prestige of the President and by extension the United States when travelling abroad on state functions. A 747 is both an impressive piece of American engineering and it looks damn majestic, if I do say so myself. There is an incalculable media and political value to those on tarmac photo-ops with the President on top of the stairs in front of a massive plane, motorcade waiting, with "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" painted all over it - especially at the relatively smaller airports that the President flies into when abroad, so dwarfing surrounding buildings and traffic in the background!
[Before anyone accuses me of teary-eyed jingoism, I am not a US citizen!]