Palm Beach International Airport, a South Florida travel hub that has operated under that name since the 1950s, officially became “President Donald J. Trump International Airport” on Thursday. The trump airport renaming marks the first time in American history that a sitting president has had a commercial airport renamed in his honor while still in office. Here is everything confirmed about the change and the reaction it has generated.
what actually changed thursday
The trump airport renaming took effect Thursday morning at what was formerly known as PBI, a commercial airport that has served the Palm Beach, Florida area since the 1950s. According to WPTV, travelers arriving and departing the airport Thursday were greeted by new signage and branding, with old “PBI” signs already being removed. Boarding passes are already printing the new name. Officials noted that online searches will still need to use “West Palm Beach Airport” or “PBI” for at least another month before search listings fully update to the new name.
the first flight under the new name
The trump airport renaming was marked symbolically by the first aircraft to land under the new branding: “Trump Force One,” a Boeing 757 owned by the Trump Organization. According to ABC News, the president’s son Eric Trump was among the passengers aboard that flight, which arrived shortly after 5 a.m. Thursday. Eric Trump posted afterward on social media: “There is no person who has done more for Florida and our country, and no one more deserving of this incredible honor.”
how trump himself reacted
President Trump celebrated the trump airport renaming on Truth Social, calling it “a very big day” for himself, according to HuffPost. He wrote that the airport “will soon be one of the Greatest and Most Spectacular Airports anywhere in the World!” Trump becomes the first sitting president in American history to have an airport renamed in his honor while actively serving in office.
who actually controls the airport now
Despite the trump airport renaming, Palm Beach County government retains full operational and administrative control over the airport, according to WPTV. The name change is branding only; there has been no transfer of ownership or governmental authority tied to the renaming.
the financial arrangement behind the name
A Trump Organization spokesperson told NPR that the president and his family “will not receive any royalty licensing fee or financial consideration whatsoever from the airport renaming.” However, according to reporting cited by HuffPost, the arrangement includes an unusual provision giving the Trump family some control over “biographical information” displayed at the airport, raising questions about the practical scope of the deal beyond a simple name change.
how travelers reacted
Reaction among travelers at the newly renamed airport was notably divided. One traveler, Carla Hamilton, told a local reporter: “I love it, couldn’t love it more. He deserves the name of this airport.” Another traveler, Phyllis Malmuth, offered a starkly different view to MS NOW: “I resent that the name is on every institution that we have, this included.” A third traveler, Keegan Collett, departing for Cincinnati, offered a more ambivalent take: “I don’t think he deserves it, but I’m not necessarily bothered by it. At the end of the day, it’s just the name of an airport. There’s bigger things. I feel like it’s just more of a distraction. Why even worry about it?”
the same-day bridge renaming in tennessee
The trump airport renaming was not an isolated event. The same day, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent joined Tennessee Senators Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty, along with Representative Tim Burchett, at a ceremony renaming the I-40 Bridge in East Tennessee to the “Donald J. Trump Bridge.” Bessent said ahead of the ceremony that “no one is more deserving” of the honor. Both events follow an earlier renaming this year of the stretch of road connecting the Palm Beach airport to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, now called Donald J. Trump Boulevard.
Sources: WPTV.com, HuffPost.com, ABCNews.com July 9, 2026
