That Time When the President Flew Commercial
Over any distance greater then what the presidential helicopter, Marine One, can fly, the President will almost always fly on a VC-25 (a modified 747-200), colloquially known as Air Force One (though any aircraft the president is on uses the callsign Air Force One). Sometimes, when the airport the president wants to attend is too small for a 747, or the President wants to fly more under the radar (like President Bidenâs trip to Ukraine, where he flew a 757), theyâll take a smaller military jet.
To understand why the President flew commercial, you have to understand the 1973 Oil Crisis, so yep, that means a little history lesson.
In October of 1973, the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries, which includes major players in the oil industry like Algeria, Saudi Arabia, and Libya, announced a total embargo against countries that supported Israel in that yearâs Yom Kippur War, when Egypt and Syria attacked Israel to (unsuccessfully) try and regain the land it lost in the Six-day War.
As a result of the embargo, oil prices shot up nearly 300% in much of the world. Prices in the United States were significantly higher than the global average, worsened by the declining oil production domestically. The Oil Crisis also led to a massive shortage of gasoline, meaning it was very hard and very expensive to fill up your car, and even pricier to gas up an airliner.
The 1973 oil crisis significantly impacted public perceptions of Nixon, adding to the mounting challenges of his presidency. While the oil embargo wasnât directly caused by Nixonâs actions, it unfolded during his administration and compounded existing economic and political frustration, including 1973âs so called "Nixon Shock,ââ a series of drastic economic measures taken in an attempt to reduce inflation.
The day after Christmas in 1973, President Nixon, along with the First Lady, their daughter Trisha, and 22 staffers and security members, boarded a United Airlines Douglas DC-10 at Washington Dulles International Airport, bound for Los Angeles. A Nixon aide carried a suitcase-sized secure communication device on board the plane, so that the President could remain in contact with Washington in the event of an emergency. Because it was a civilian airliners, but the President was onboard, the flight was given the callsign of âExecutive Oneâ (EXEC1F, âFâ being for "family,ââ as the Executive callsign is usually reserved for the First Family).
According to reporting at the time, Nixon flying United saved at least 60,000 gallons of jet fuel. The flight was delayed 45 minutes because of poor weather in DC, and they took off at 6:15 PM. Nixon was seated in business class, but spent much of the flight milling about the cabin and taking to passengers, even getting a tour of the cockpit from the flightâs captain. What a lot of people didnât realize is that Air Force One flew empty to California to pick up Nixon for the return flight, defeating much of the purpose of the trip. It still scored the President publicity points. The trip was positively received, with the New York Timesâs John Herbers writing âthe extraordinary move of secretly taking a commercial flight was an effort to show that Mr. Nixon was not consuming fuel for his own holiday during the energy crisis. Mr. Warren [White House press secretary] said that no passengers were bumped from their seats to make way for the Presidentâs party, and airline officials confirmed this.â
This was indeed an extraordinary flight. Since then, no president has flown on a commercial airliner, neither had anyone before. President Kennedy did fly commercially between on Thanksgiving Day of 1960. At that time, John F. Kennedy, the Presidentâelect, flew back to Washington from West Palm Beach, FL, when his wife gave birth prematurely to a boy, but he hadnât been inaugurated as Commander in Chief yet.