The journey of U.S. President Donald Trump to Qatar commenced in a spectacular manner. Similar to Saudi Arabia the day before, Qatar did not wait for Trump to land in order to impress him with an escort of fighter jets.
When Trump flew to Riyadh on Tuesday and then to Doha on Wednesday as part of his four-day tour of the Middle East, he received ceremonial escorts with F-15 fighter jets from each country, which is quite unusual.
A White House official, Margo Martin, posted videos of the escorts on the internet. «Saudi F-15s providing honorary escort for Air Force One!» she wrote on Tuesday. The Saudi Royal Air Force possesses the largest fleet of U.S.-made F-15s in the world, after the United States Air Force. Then, on Wednesday, Martin posted: «What a view while flying to Qatar!!!» She even captured a photo of one of the Qatari aviators, seated in the rear of the F-15, returning the gesture as he took a picture of Air Force One.