The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is mulling creating its own fleet of government-owned aircraft to bolster deportations, Bloomberg reported.
According to the media outlet, the DHS is searching for a company to operate aircraft that would carry out deportation flights, respond to emergencies, and transport senior officials. The potential fleet would include two C-37Bs or equivalent G650(ER)s and seven B737-700s or similar models.
This is not the first time the US government under Donald Trump has pondered the possibility of setting up an in-house airline to conduct deportation flights. Before Kristi Noem was forced out of the DHS in March, she was leading a push to assemble an owned fleet.
Bloomberg reported that the DHS would rather own a fleet and outsource its flight operations to a private contractor than keep relying on chartering aircraft from outside sources, as it has done historically.
In January 2026, Virginia-based Daedalus Aviation Corp acquired a number of Boeing B737 aircraft for ICE. Several B737-700s formerly operated by Avelo Airlines (XP, Burbank) are currently owned by the DHS, according to data from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). These aircraft are N474US (msn 36623), N475US (msn 33789), N476US (msn 36626), N477US (msn 33785), N478US (msn 30677), and N480US (msn 29843).
