When it comes to government planes and political trips, who pays for a president’s campaign travel?

WASHINGTON — Moving the commander in chief from point A to B isn’t easy, and it’s even more complicated when the president is seeking a second term.

President Joe Biden recently spent three days in Pennsylvania, a crucial state in the 2024 campaign, and he plans to be in Virginia and Florida in the coming week. The Democratic incumbent is seeking an edge over Republican Donald Trump as he steps up his travels across the country.

Here’s how much it costs and who foots the bill during campaign season.

It’s not cheap to fly the president’s fleet.

The White House uses Sikorsky helicopters known as Marine One when the President is on board, as well as custom-built Boeing 747s immediately recognizable as the iconic humpback Air Force One. (Sometimes the president uses a more modestly modified 757 if his destination is close or if a runway isn’t long enough to accommodate the larger plane.)

Marine One costs between $16,700 and nearly $20,000 per hour to operate, according to Pentagon data for fiscal year 2022. Air Force One is even more expensive: about $200,000 per hour.

But these figures are only an indication of the actual costs. There are also military cargo planes that fly ahead of the president to make sure his armored limousines are in place, not to mention the massive security apparatus that follows the president everywhere.

New aircraft are in the works because the current versions are decades old. Sikorsky produces 23 updated helicopters that can serve as Marine One. Boeing is building two new Air Force One aircraft, expected to be ready in 2028. According to the Pentagon, the planes will feature all the improvements, including “a mission communications system,” a “self-defense system” and even “autonomous baggage loading.”

If the president flies for political purposes, the campaign has to foot the bill. But during an election year, the line between governing and campaigning can be blurry.

For example, Biden held an official event in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, where he announced his proposal for higher tariffs on steel imported from China. The event, however, was a not-so-subtle opportunity for the president to connect with union members crucial to his re-election, and he took a jab at Trump in his remarks. (At one point, Biden joked that the former president was “busy right now,” a reference to the hush-money trial that recently launched in New York.)

It will be up to the White House counsel’s office to figure out what percentage of the president’s travel is campaign-related. That determines how much the federal government should be reimbursed by the Biden campaign. Sometimes the calculations aren’t simple, like when the White House adds an official event to an otherwise political trip.

Norm Eisen, an ethics lawyer in the White House under President Barack Obama, said both Republicans and Democrats tend to adhere closely to the regulations.

“We had some rules about how to make the allocations,” he said. “They are complicated and we have stuck to them.”

Whatever happens, taxpayers will bear the brunt of the costs. Campaigns don’t pay for all the Secret Service agents and the rest of the security apparatus. In fact, they usually only cover the costs of Air Force One passengers flying for explicitly political purposes – a bit like buying a ticket for a particularly exclusive private jet.

Biden’s campaign and his joint fundraising committee have stashed travel money in an escrow account controlled by the Democratic National Committee. From January 2023 to the end of last month, they deposited almost $6.5 million.

Part of that money goes to general campaign logistics, such as personnel costs and advances. The bill will also be used to reimburse the federal government for official aircraft used to transport the president, first lady, vice president and second gentleman when they travel for the reelection effort.

So far, not much money has found its way back to the US Treasury Department. According to the latest available data, only $300,000 has been provided.

It’s safe to assume that Biden’s campaign will ultimately raise much more than that once the campaign is over. Trump’s team reimbursed the federal government nearly $4.7 million for travel expenses during the 2020 race.

But Biden likely won’t have trouble paying his bills. His campaign and the DNC had more than $192 million in cash on hand at the end of March.

____

AP White House Correspondent Zeke Miller contributed to this report.