WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A South Florida airport officially adopted a new name Thursday, now operating as the President Donald J. Trump International Airport, replacing the long-standing Palm Beach International Airport identity.
Old signage has been taken down as crews work to install new branding throughout the facility. Airport officials acknowledged the transition will take time, noting in a Facebook post: “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.”
The first aircraft to touch down at the newly named airport was “Trump Force One,” a Boeing 757 belonging to The Trump Organization, arriving just after 5 a.m. Among those on board was Eric Trump, the president’s son. The Trump family frequently uses the West Palm Beach airport when visiting President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in nearby Palm Beach. A road connecting the airport to that property was already renamed Donald J. Trump Boulevard earlier this year.
Eric Trump celebrated the occasion on X, writing: “There is no person who has done more for Florida and our country, and no one more deserving of this incredible honor. 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.”
Although the name officially changed Thursday, the airport’s three-letter code will not switch from PBI to DJT until August 18.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the legislation earlier this year that cleared the way for the renaming. Officials estimate the full cost of new signage, rebranding, and related updates could reach as much as $5.5 million.
Not everyone at the airport was enthusiastic about the change. Traveler Keegan Collett, who was heading to Cincinnati Thursday morning, said he was caught off guard by the new name. While he doesn’t believe Trump deserves the honor, he said he isn’t particularly worked up about it either.
“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?”
The airport renaming was not the only Trump-related ceremony Thursday. In Dandridge, Tennessee, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty, and Representative Tim Burchett gathered to rename the I-40 Bridge in East Tennessee the Donald J. Trump Bridge.
Bessent said ahead of the event that “no one is more deserving” of having the bridge named in Trump’s honor.
Trump carried 82% of the vote in Jefferson County, where Dandridge is located, during the 2024 general election.
