What really happened to Air Force One?

By Easton Martin | January 22, 2026

On the evening of January 20, 2026, Air Force One, carrying President Trump on his way to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, returned to Joint Base Andrews in the Washington, D.C., area shortly after takeoff. White House officials, including press secretary Karoline Leavitt, said the crew identified a “minor electrical issue” soon after departure, prompting the return as a precautionary safety measure rather than out of evidence of a serious malfunction. 

Passengers and crew disembarked safely, and reporters on board noted a brief flicker or outage of lights in parts of the cabin during the early stages of the flight.

After landing, the president and his team switched to a backup aircraft (an Air Force C-32) and resumed their journey to Switzerland with only a moderate delay. Air Force One’s current Boeing VC-25s have been in service for about four decades, and though replacements are in development, that program has faced delays.