A South Florida aviation hub has officially undergone a name change, becoming the President Donald J. Trump International Airport as of Thursday. The transition is currently visible to travelers, as airport officials confirmed on Facebook that the facility will display a mix of classic signage and new brand elements over the coming weeks while the full transformation is completed. Signs for the Palm Beach International Airport have been removed, while new signage goes up.
The first aircraft to land at the facility under its new title was the Boeing 757 known as “Trump Force One,” which arrived shortly after 5 am. Among the passengers on board was Eric Trump, the president’s son. The Trump family frequently utilizes this West Palm Beach airport for travel to the president’s Mar-a-Lago estate in nearby Palm Beach. Earlier this year, a stretch of local road leading to the estate was also renamed Donald J. Trump Boulevard.
Expressing his support for the change, Eric Trump stated on X that no one is more deserving of the honor, noting that as someone who flies out of the airport nearly every day, he is proud to see the “DJT” initials on his boarding pass. While the name change is now in effect, the official three-letter airport code is scheduled to shift from PBI to DJT on August 18.
The renaming project follows legislation signed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis earlier this year. The total cost for the new signage, branding, and associated updates is expected to reach approximately $5.5 million (€4.8 million). Passenger reactions have been mixed; traveler Keegan Collett, who was heading to Cincinnati, expressed surprise at the new name, suggesting that while he does not believe the honor is deserved, he views the renaming as a distraction rather than a significant concern.
The event coincided with a separate ceremony in Dandridge, Tennessee, where Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and several lawmakers, including US Senators Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty and Representative Tim Burchett, gathered to rename the I-40 Bridge in East Tennessee to the Donald J. Trump Bridge. Secretary Bessent remarked that the former president is highly deserving of the tribute, noting Trump’s 82% vote share in Jefferson County during the 2024 general election.
These developments reflect a broader trend since Trump’s return to the White House, characterized by an departure from traditional American political decorum regarding the placement of his name and image in official spaces. In a related legal matter, a federal judge recently rejected an attempt by the Justice Department and the Kennedy Centre board to stop the removal of Trump’s name from the performing arts venue in Washington, D.C., ordering that the name be taken off the building.
“Because an entire airport transformation doesn’t happen overnight, you’ll notice a combination of both our classic look and our new brand elements coexisting while traveling through the terminal over the next several weeks,” airport officials said in a Facebook post.
“At the end of the day, it’s just the name of an airport,” Collett said. "There’s bigger things. I feel like it’s just more of a distraction. Why even worry about it?"
