By Aiyeku Timothy
President Joe Biden flew aboard Air Force One for the first time as president on Friday, which is also his first time in about 21 years.
Biden was not on the plane for a serious official assignment, rather he went home, to Delaware, to help his wife, Jill, figure out what other “stuff” they need in their “other house,” meaning the White House.
’It’s a great honor,” Biden said of flying aboard Air Force One as president. “But I didn’t think about it, to tell you the truth. I was reading the paper.”
The US president also disclosed that he flew the Air Force One to his home near Wilmington for the weekend “to see my grandchildren and to hang out with Jill to get the rest of the stuff we have to move from our house to the other house.” Biden’s son Hunter also turned 51 on Thursday.
Biden on Air Force One was his first time in about 21 years as he flew to South America with President Bill Clinton in 2000 as Clinton announced $1.3 billion in aid to help Colombia battle drug traffickers.
“Any president of the United States, Democrat or Republican, obviously takes Air Force One, a private plane, when they travel,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said hours before Biden’s inaugural flight.
Biden told reporters shortly after landing in Delaware that the plane was much like the one he flew as vice president for eight years, “only it’s much nicer.”
For security reasons, the vice president travels separately from the president and relies on the more modest Air Force Two aircraft for out-of-town travel.
