Florida Renamed Palm Beach International Airport After Trump While He Is Still in Office — the First Sitting President Ever to Get One — Changing PBI to "DJT" at a $5.5 Million Taxpayer Cost, Imposed by the Legislature Over Community Objections, With Trump Keeping Control of His "Name, Likeness and Image" at the Airport

On July 9, 2026, Palm Beach International Airport — which had carried that name for over half a century — officially became "President Donald J. Trump International Airport." The FAA identifier code changed from PBI to DJT. It makes Trump the first sitting president in U.S. history to have an airport named after him; the dozen other presidential airports (JFK, Reagan National, George Bush Intercontinental) were all named after their namesakes left office. The renaming was not a grassroots decision by the local community — it was imposed from above by the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature, which passed HB 919 along party lines (House 81-30, Senate 25-11), signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in March, giving the state authority to name "major commercial service airports." The airport sits about four miles from Mar-a-Lago. The change cost an estimated $5.5 million, with $2.75 million allocated in the state budget. Travelers interviewed at the airport were blunt: "I think it's disgusting, ridiculous, pompous and a lot of other bad things," said Florida resident Pat Brown. "I resent that the name is on every institution that we have, this included," said Phyllis Malmuth. Rep. Lois Frankel called it "a clear overreach," noting airports are "traditionally designated once they leave office and through decisions made by local communities — not imposed from above." Eric Trump crowed that his father's plane was the first to land at 5:01 a.m. and that he would "forever be proud to see the initials DJT on my boarding pass." The Trump Organization says the family will collect "no royalty licensing fee or financial consideration whatsoever" — but Trump retains control over any use of his "name, likeness, image and biographical information" at the airport, letting his organization dictate how he is presented on signage and photos. On the same day, a Tennessee bridge was also renamed after him.

For more than fifty years it was Palm Beach International Airport. On July 9, 2026, it became the President Donald J. Trump International Airport — and its FAA code changed from the neutral PBI to the unmistakable DJT.

There are about a dozen U.S. airports named after presidents: John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, George Bush. Every one of them was named after the president had left office — most of them long dead. Trump is the first sitting president in American history to have an airport named after himself while still in power. He did not wait for history's verdict. He took the honor now, from the office he currently holds.

Imposed, not chosen

Airports are traditionally renamed by the communities they serve. This one was renamed to the community, over the objections of many in it, by the state.

The Republican-controlled Florida Legislature passed HB 919 along strict party lines — 81-30 in the House, 25-11 in the Senate. The bill did two things at once: it renamed the airport, and it seized for the state the authority to name "major commercial service airports" — stripping that power from the local county that had held it. Gov. Ron DeSantis — who a year earlier had run against Trump for the nomination — signed it in March. The Palm Beach County commission then approved the licensing agreement by a narrow 4-3 vote, after a public meeting where residents spoke forcefully on both sides.

The airport sits roughly four miles from Mar-a-Lago. Its new name greets every visitor to Palm Beach with the president's — arriving, as Rep. Lois Frankel (D-FL) put it, as "a clear overreach." Her objection was procedural and pointed: "Airports named after presidents have traditionally been designated once they leave office and through decisions made by local communities and local authorities — not imposed from above."

The cost

The rebranding is estimated at $5.5 million, with $2.75 million allocated in the 2026-2027 state budget. New signage, new baggage-tag systems, reprogrammed airline reservation and ticketing systems — the machinery of an airport's identity, rebuilt at public expense to put one man's name on it. Travelers must still book under PBI until August 18, when DJT propagates through the airline systems.

What travelers said

Reporters asked people at the airport what they thought. Several did not hold back.

Florida resident Pat Brown: "I think it's disgusting, ridiculous, pompous and a lot of other bad things."

Florida resident Phyllis Malmuth: "I resent that the name is on every institution that we have, this included."

Not everyone was exercised. Keegan Collett, catching a flight to Cincinnati, said he didn't think Trump deserved an airport but wasn't especially bothered: "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?" — which is, in its way, the most damning verdict: a monument that even its shruggers regard as a distraction.

The family lap

Eric Trump, executive vice president of the Trump Organization, announced that the president's plane was the first to land at the renamed airport, at 5:01 a.m. He wrote: "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."

The "no royalties" asterisk

Anticipating the obvious self-dealing question, a Trump Organization spokesperson said the president and his family "will not receive any royalty licensing fee or financial consideration whatsoever from the airport renaming," and the licensing agreement bars Trump from taking royalties on merchandise sold under the name.

But the arrangement is not free of self-interest. Trump retains control over any use of his "name, likeness, image and biographical information" at the airport. As trademark attorney Josh Gerben noted, that lets the Trump Organization dictate how the president is presented — in signage, in photographs, in the biographical framing a traveler encounters. The airport now doubles as a branded environment whose portrayal of Trump the Trump Organization controls. The "no royalties" line answers a narrow question about merchandise checks while leaving the broader value — a major international airport as a permanent, taxpayer-funded advertisement for the Trump name, at the doorstep of his own resort — entirely intact.

The pattern

This does not stand alone. It is one more entry in a running catalogue of things Trump has renamed after himself or had renamed after him — the same day the airport changed, a bridge in Tennessee was also renamed in his honor. The impulse is consistent: to stamp the name on the shared infrastructure of the country while holding the power to do it, and to collect the tribute in the present tense rather than earn it in the judgment of history.

A president confident in his legacy lets the country name things after him when he is gone, if it chooses to. A president who renames a half-century-old airport after himself while still in office — through a party-line vote, over community objection, at a $5.5 million public cost, four miles from his own club — is not honoring a legacy. He is manufacturing one, and billing the taxpayers for the sign.