Originally Posted by
RAFEngO74to09
Sort of - considerable cutting up and modification required:
"For example, the two airstair doors, one forward of the wing and one behind the wing, did not come as part of the commercial airliner configuration, according to USAF acquisition documents released in July 2018. The retractable airstairs are to allow the aircraft to emplane passengers and crew without needing to rely on ground-based staircases."
This is basically what was done for the current VC-25 aircraft. They were built as baseline 747-200 aircraft, then flown to Wichita where they were rebuilt into the AF1 configuration. However the systems changes planned for the 747-8 are quite a bit more involved than what was done for the 747-200 (which, BTW, went
way over budget, allegedly making them - at the time - the two most expensive aircraft ever built, with Boeing eating most of that on a fixed price contract).
The airstair setup was seriously cool - I remember watching it being deployed once and it was fascinating (I only remember one - forward of the wing - although there may have been another aft that I simply never noticed or used). The airstairs went from the cargo deck to the ground - with a separate staircase leading from the main deck to the cargo deck. I'm guessing they are using the same basic setup and not re-inventing the wheel, but I could be wrong...