No one's currently willing to blow a minimum of $50,000 on a plane that acted as Air Force One at at least one occasion, and has been sitting at the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport for a while.
The General Services Administration auction was supposed to last for two weeks, but the auction was terminated today, after just one week.
See also:
-Airplane Up for Auction in Mesa Did Act as Air Force One, Historian Says
-Airplane That May Have Been Air Force One Is Sitting at the Mesa Airport
According to the rules laid out for the auction, it looks like it ended due to nobody willing to place the minimum bid of $50,000.
At first, the agency kind of skirted the issue of whether the plane ever had the call sign of Air Force One, meaning the plane carried the President of the United States, saying it "may have" acted as Air Force One.
However, an Air Force historian later chimed in an said that the smaller plane, a DC-9, "saw occasional use" by President-elect Reagan and President Clinton.
All of the Vice Presidents from Mondale to Cheney, as well as all of the first ladies during those administrations (Carter to George W. Bush) rode in the plane as well.
This DC-9 obviously wasn't the main aircraft for the president, but could have been used in scenarios such as there being a short runway at the destination airport.
Many who didn't have $50,000 to blow on the plane seemed to think it was cool, but that didn't help anyone.
In the GSA's FAQ, the agency says the items featured in auctions that are terminated will, "in most cases," get put up for auction again at a later date.
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