Palm Beach International Airport in Florida was formally rechristened President Donald J. Trump International AirportThursday morning — with the commander in chief’s own Boeing 757 making the first landing.
The 89-year-old hub, located five miles west of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, was renamed via legislation passed in February by the Republican-controlled Florida legislature and signed into law by onetime Trump rival Gov. Ron DeSantis.
First son Eric Trump tweeted from his dad’s “Trump Force One” as the jet approached the newly rebranded airport, posting a video of an aircraft controller announcing the change at 5:01 a.m.
“Attention all aircraft, effective immediately, Palm Beach International Airport is now Donald J. Trump International Airport,” the controller said over the radio.
Eric’s older brother, Donald Trump Jr., and Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) were also on board.
President Trump himself has yet to land at his namesake airport, having returned to the White House from the annual NATOsummit in Turkey about three hours before his kin touched down in the Sunshine State.
“There is no person who has done more for Florida and our country, and no one more deserving of this incredible honor,” Eric Trump wrote 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. Congratulations Dad — I’m happy to have played a big role in making this happen.”
The change has predictably delighted Trump’s fans and outraged Democrats.
Rep. Lois Frankel (D-Fla.) who represents parts of Palm Beach — the ultra-exclusive barrier island where Mar-a-Lago sits — and West Palm Beach, where the airport is located, slammed the change as “misguided and unfair” earlier this year.
“Decisions about naming major infrastructure should wait until after an honoree’s service has concluded,” she said.
Unlike his predecessors, Trump has welcomed unprecedented moves to place his name and image on US coins, paper currency, passports and buildings — including both the US Institute of Peace and the Kennedy Center, the latter of which was reversed following a court order.
There is precedent for such a name change. For example, the airport in Little Rock, Ark. was renamed Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport in 2012 by local officials while the former first lady was still serving as secretary of state.
In 1998, Clinton signed Republican-pushed legislation renaming Washington National Airport, across the Potomac River from DC, in honor of former President Ronald Reagan.
Many residents of heavily Democratic Washington still call the airport by its former name or by its airport code, DCA.
Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush also have airports named in their honor.
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