Qatar Amiri Flight

A Boeing 747-8 in Qatar Airways colors that appears in no schedule, and on the tracker just a terse “QAF” – anyone who sees that has very likely caught an aircraft of Qatar Amiri Flight. Qatar’s VIP flight service flies the ruling family and government officials around the world, without tickets, without flight numbers and usually at short notice. This page shows you what is behind the flight service, which types belong to it, how to tell the aircraft from the scheduled fleet and why a former Amiri aircraft now flies the US president.

Qatar Amiri Flight at a glance

Qatar Amiri Flight is not an airline in the usual sense. The flight service belongs to the government of Qatar and is operated by it. It was founded in 1977 and is based in Doha. Its passengers are almost exclusively members of the ruling Al Thani family and government officials. Flights go worldwide and on request – so there is neither a route schedule nor seats you can book. The name refers to the emir, Qatar’s head of state.

In this respect Qatar Amiri Flight resembles Germany’s Flugbereitschaft of the BMVg (the Federal Ministry of Defense’s air transport wing), with one important difference: The Flugbereitschaft is an Air Force unit with military identifiers. The Amiri aircraft, by contrast, are civilly registered and carry normal registrations with the Qatari prefix A7-.

Another difference from most government fleets is the location. When Qatar Airways moved its scheduled service to the new Hamad International Airport in 2014, Amiri Flight stayed at the old Doha International Airport. If you change planes in Doha, you therefore usually do not see the state jets from the terminal.

Codes, callsign and registration

With scheduled airlines you orient yourself by IATA code and flight number. With Qatar Amiri Flight both are missing:

• No IATA code: Without ticket sales there is no need for a two-letter code. A QR flight number always belongs to Qatar Airways, never to the Amiri flight service.
• ICAO code QAF: It appears in the air traffic control flight plan and thus on many trackers.
• Callsign “AMIRI”: This is how the crew identifies itself on the radio, followed by a number.
• Civil registration: All aircraft are registered with the prefix A7-, Qatar’s nationality mark.

For the widebody aircraft, a series with A7-H… has become established – for example A7-HHE for a 747-8, A7-HHH for the A340-500 or A7-HJJ and A7-HHM for the A330s. You cannot rely on it, though: Registrations such as A7-MED or A7-MHH (Airbus ACJ319), A7-AAG, A7-HSJ or A7-MBK (A320) and A7-MSD (777-200LR) are also documented in photos as Amiri aircraft. How registrations are built in general is explained in the article understanding aircraft registrations.

The fleet: from Gulfstream to 747-8

Qatar Amiri Flight does not publish official, continuously maintained fleet lists. The following overview draws on common fleet overviews as of the end of 2025 and on registrations documented in photos. VIP fleets change quickly – aircraft are sold, given away or replaced. So read the table as a snapshot.

Type	Number (as of end of 2025)	Known registrations	Spotter note
Boeing 747-8 BBJ	2	A7-HHE	The showpiece, VIP version of the 747-8 Intercontinental
Airbus A340-500	1	A7-HHH	In service since 2003, an extremely rare type in Europe
Airbus A330-200	2	A7-HJJ, A7-HHM	In the fleet since 2002 (A7-HJJ)
Boeing 777-200LR	1	A7-MSD	Long-range version of the 777
Airbus ACJ319	1	A7-HHJ, A7-MED, A7-MHH (documented)	Corporate jet based on the A319
Airbus A320 / ACJ320	2–3	A7-AAG, A7-HSJ, A7-MBK (documented)	Plus, according to overviews, an A320neo and more on order
Gulfstream G700	1	–	Large-cabin long-range business jet

The heart of the fleet is the Boeing 747-8. In total, Qatar Amiri Flight has taken over three VIP examples of the 747-8 Intercontinental. The A7-HHE has been flying for the flight service since 2012. Alongside it, the Airbus A340-500 A7-HHH is a real treat: It came to the flight service directly from Airbus in September 2003 – and A340-500s are now a genuine rarity at European airports.

For shorter missions and smaller delegations there are A330-200s, the ACJ319, A320s, a Boeing 777-200LR and a Gulfstream G700 at the ready. The manufacturers are familiar: Boeing, Airbus and Gulfstream Aerospace.

From A7-HBJ to Air Force One

The best-known story around Qatar Amiri Flight now takes place in the USA. The Boeing 747-8 BBJ with serial number 37075 came to the Amiri flight service in April 2012 as A7-HJA and later carried the registration A7-HBJ. After that it was entered in another register as P4-HBJ.

In May 2025 the US government accepted the aircraft as a gift from Qatar, and the related agreement was signed in July 2025. L3Harris then converted the 747 for presidential transport; in May 2026 the US Air Force reported completion of the work. Since then the aircraft has carried the designation VC-25B Bridge and the registration N7478D. On July 1, 2026 it flew as Air Force One for the first time. It bridges the time until the two specially ordered VC-25Bs are ready.

For spotters this is a lesson: An aircraft that spent years in Qatar Airways livery as A7-HBJ can now be seen in the colors of the US presidential fleet. If you sort old photos, you should therefore file by serial number and not only by registration.

Former types and departures

In almost 50 years the fleet has seen many types. According to fleet overviews, Qatar Amiri Flight formerly flew these models, among others:

• Airbus A310-300: A7-AAF and A7-AFE are documented in photos. The A7-AAF went to the Pakistani Air Force in 2007.
• Airbus A340-200: The A7-HHK flew for the flight service from 1993 to 2016, already in Qatar Airways colors from 2005, and then went to Qatar Executive.
• Airbus A340-300, Boeing 737-800 and Boeing 747SP are also part of the past.
• Boeing C-17 Globemaster III: A C-17 was run through the flight service on behalf of the Qatari Air Force. Whether it is still listed there is unclear: Some overviews count it in the active fleet, others among the former types.

Gifts to other states also have a tradition. In 2018 the emir handed a VIP Boeing 747-8 to the Turkish president, which has been registered in Turkey ever since.

How to recognize Qatar Amiri Flight

The biggest hurdle is the paint: Most of the fleet wears the Qatar Airways design – light gray fuselage, titles and burgundy Oryx on the tail. At first glance you see a perfectly ordinary Qatar Airways jet. A few clues still give away the state aircraft.

Take a close look especially at the A330. Qatar Airways itself flew the A330 in scheduled service for a long time, so an Amiri A330 looks almost like a scheduled aircraft. With the A340-500 the situation is simpler: Four engines and a long fuselage in Qatar colors – that is almost always A7-HHH. How to separate the A330 and A340 reliably is shown in the article telling the A330 and A340 apart. For the 747 variants, the guide recognizing the Boeing 747-100 to 747-8 helps.

Spotting Qatar Amiri Flight in Europe

There is no schedule, but there are patterns. Amiri aircraft show up mainly where something is happening politically, economically or in sports: at state visits, summits, big conferences and international sporting events. Add maintenance stays – photos show flight service A330s in Luxembourg, for example.

In Switzerland, state jets from the Gulf region are regular guests, and photos document Amiri aircraft at Zurich Airport, among others. Good public places there are observation deck B in Zurich and the observation deck in Geneva. General tips for hunting state aircraft are in the article spotting government aircraft.

Context: state aircraft from the Gulf

Qatar Amiri Flight is one of a series of VIP fleets of the Gulf states, which often travel in large Boeing and Airbus jets. Typical for Qatar is the close visual tie to the state airline. Other countries, by contrast, rely on their own paint schemes with national coats of arms. How Qatar Airways, Emirates and Etihad built their businesses is covered in the background article on Gulf airlines.

Common mix-ups

• Taking every Qatar jet for a scheduled airliner – the state fleet also mostly flies in Qatar Airways colors.
• Taking every A7 registration for Amiri – A7- is the prefix of all of Qatar and is also on every Qatar Airways aircraft.
• Looking only for A7-H… – registrations such as A7-MED, A7-MBK or A7-MSD also belonged to the flight service.
• Equating Qatar Executive with Qatar Amiri Flight – the business jet division of Qatar Airways is a company of its own.
• Still looking for A7-HBJ in Doha – this 747-8 now flies as the VC-25B Bridge for the US Air Force.
• Logging a Qatar 787 as a state jet – a 787 is not listed in the Amiri fleet lists reviewed.

Conclusion

Qatar Amiri Flight is one of the most exciting VIP fleets in the world: 747-8 BBJ, A340-500 and corporate jets, wrapped in a livery you know from every Qatar Airways flight. That is exactly where the challenge lies. If you check type, registration and callsign together, you reliably separate state jet from scheduled airliner – and with an Amiri 747 or the A340-500 you have one of the rarest sightings in your logbook.