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The Blue House said President Lee Jae-myung and First Lady Kim Hye-kyung traveled on the newly commissioned Air Force No. 2 on March 15 to attend the 66th anniversary ceremony marking the March 15 uprising.
Blue House officials said on March 16 that the flight was the president’s first aboard the new Air Force No. 2 following its final test flight.
Before boarding, the Presidential Security Service briefed the presidential couple on the aircraft’s status. The president and first lady then posed for photographs with operational personnel and key members of the program team, offered words of encouragement, and boarded Air Force No. 2 for the March 15 ceremony.
The Air Force No. 2 replacement program was first launched in 2018, and its direction was finalized in 2022. The new airframe delivers higher cruise speeds and an extended maximum range compared with the previous aircraft, enabling nonstop flights to key partner countries such as Indonesia and Uzbekistan without in-flight refueling.
The aircraft’s exterior paint maintains the Taegeuk-inspired motif used on the previous presidential aircraft. The “Republic of Korea” lettering on the fuselage uses a typeface developed by adapting the woodblock script of Yongbieocheonga—the earliest Korean literary work—and the type used in the March 1st Declaration of Independence.
Officials plan to operate the new Air Force No. 2 as South Korea’s dedicated presidential aircraft for the next five years, supporting major state missions, including domestic and overseas presidential trips. The previous Air Force No. 2 was a Boeing 737-300, introduced in 1985 and in service for about 41 years.
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