President Trump To Create Deportation Airline

The Trump Administration is moving ahead with a plan to build a dedicated, round-the-clock airline focused on deportations, using a fleet of government-owned jets.

Under a private contractor operator working with the Department of Homeland Security, preparations are ramping up for the 24/7 operation, which would launch as early as 2027.

To reach one million deportations per year, the U.S is heavily focused on getting this deportation airline up and running to speed up the process.

The Airline Trying To Be Built

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has now issued requests for proposals to contractors to operate a total of nine large transport-category aircraft, as reported by Bloomberg, which would serve as bases for deportation missions and senior official travel.

As part of this request, the winning bidder would need to supply pilots, cabin crew, onboard medical staff, and security teams, and be expected to fly domestically and internationally on very short notice, with a 24/7 operation.

The contract would run between Summer 2027 and 2032 under the current estimates, with this being the first permanent Government departure airline rather than the typical patchwork of charters or bookings on commercial airlines that have long been relied on.

The DHS has not publicly disclosed the projected value of the deal; however, analysts have their expectations, and following the contract signed in 2025 to purchase six Boeing 737s for this deportation operation, close to $140 million, it’s not cheap.

Those six Boeing jets were acquired from Daedalus Aviation and, in essence, gave ICE its first in-house jets, financed through a four-year enforcement package and part of a mass removal agenda aimed at getting people out of the United States.

With the view of having nine jets contracted, these would sit atop past purchases, and the planes would be government-owned or controlled, but the day-to-day flying of the jets would be outsourced to the private sector.

Where This New Airline Launch Is At Now

The deportation airline pushed by President Trump is not yet flying, but preparations are well underway, with Boeing 737s already bought. These jets, alongside other high-end units, would be ideal for immigration enforcement and for transporting senior officials.

These aircraft have begun to be integrated into ICE Air Operations, which runs hundreds of charter flights a year to move people between facilities and abroad. However, preparations are now ramping up for the dedicated 24/7 operation, and we are requesting a private contractor to launch by mid-2027.

Officials spoke with CNN and said the new deportation planes are nearing their takeoff moment under the dedicated operation. However, this has naturally received a mixed response, with critics on both sides over the expenses required to make this happen and its legality.

Building the deportation airline, which the DHS and Trump argue on paper is a move that focuses on efficiency and control. Previously, it has been contracted private charter operations where paying by the hour has been requested in partially empty flights, as case or court changes can be last-minute. A government-owned fleet and thus airline can change that.

More predictable scheduling will reduce bottlenecks and deadweight flights, lowering long-term costs by eliminating charter margins. That elimination leads to the optimization of aircraft use. To reach the destination targets as well, capacity will be increased by making more planes, including larger ones, available.