Florida’s Palm Beach International Airport Renamed President Donald J. Trump International Airport

Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida was officially renamed President Donald J. Trump International Airport on Thursday, with the Federal Aviation Administration saying the facility’s effective name change took hold that day.

The airport said staffers were “working behind the scenes to update our physical signage, terminal spaces, and digital channels to our new name,” and it said “transition activities, including updates to signage, branding and public-facing materials, will occur in phases.”

ABC

The Federal Aviation Administration began transitioning the airport’s FAA locational identifier from PBI to DJT on Thursday, while the International Air Transport Association code change was set to occur on Aug. 18.

Eric Trump said his father’s plane was the first flight to land at the newly branded airport, writing on X, “As a son, and someone who flies out of this airport nearly every day, I will forever be proud to see the initials ‘DJT’ on my boarding pass.”

The airport’s FAQ said updates to signage, branding and public-facing materials would occur in phases, and it told travelers to continue using PBI when searching for flights, booking flights and checking baggage until Aug. 18.

CNBC reported that major U.S. carriers including United Airlines and Delta Air Lines began putting the new airport code DJT on their booking pages on Thursday, while consumers could still use the old PBI code to find the airport.

BBC

The airport estimated the rebranding would cost $5.5 million, and Time Magazine said the state allocated $2.75 million for the project with the rest coming from the Department of Airports' operating budget and capital improvement program.

In the airport’s online FAQ, it said “airport operations and services will continue without interruption” and that the change was “a branding change only,” with ownership and governance not undergoing any changes.

Travellers expressed mixed reactions after the renaming, with the BBC reporting that one passenger said the US president should be honoured while others said they preferred the airport’s previous name.

“Palm Beach International Airport was officially renamed as President Donald J”

BBC

The BBC also said the renaming followed legislation signed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in March, and it noted the Federal Aviation Administration said the airport’s three-letter code would be updated from PBI to DJT.

NPR reported that the name change is now the subject of two separate local lawsuits and that Trump also registered trademarks for the airport’s new name, with Josh Gerben saying, “Most of the time, these things are meant to be an honorary renaming and … in this case, obviously, there's a private entity owned by Trump's family whose trademarks are now licensed to a publicly-owned airport.”

NPR further quoted Trump Organization spokesperson Kimberly Benza saying, “the President and his family will not receive any royalty, licensing fee, or financial consideration whatsoever from the airport renaming,” as the debate centers on whether the effort could benefit the Trump family.