The Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday proposed a permanent restriction on flights permitted within a one-mile radius of Mar-a-Lago — a rule that would help address a longtime complaint from President Donald Trump and a more recent worry for the Secret Service.
Trump has never liked the plane traffic over his Florida estate, which sits almost directly in the flight path of the Palm Beach airport recently renamed in his honor.
As a civilian, he filed multiple lawsuits against officials at what was then known as Palm Beach International Airport. He complained about the noise, the vibrations and what he described as the “soot.”
The fight went on for years, with Trump accusing airport officials of deliberately directing planes over Mar-a-Lago as an act of retribution.
Then he became president. And planes flying over Mar-a-Lago could be framed as not just a nuisance but a security threat.
FAA flight restrictions around presidential properties have plenty of precedent. No-fly zones near Jimmy Carter’s home in Plains, Georgia, and George W. Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas, persisted even after their terms in office.
But Mar-a-Lago is a more difficult case because of the nearby airport. A full ban on flights would make it just about impossible for planes to take off and land.
“Aircraft would essentially be unable to use Runway 28R/10L,” the FAA said in the Federal Register notice published Wednesday. That’s the airport’s main commercial runway, which handled about 86 flights a day last year.
At first, the FAA restricted flights only when Trump was at his estate.
Then in October 2025, amid heightened security concerns from the Secret Service, the FAA implemented temporary restrictions within a one-mile radius and 2,000 feet at all times for most planes.
There are exemptions that allow some vetted air traffic to fly along prescribed routes. But some flight paths to and from the airport still had to be rerouted.
It is those temporary restrictions that the FAA now wants to make permanent.
Public comments will be accepted through Oct. 2.
The proposal is controversial, and the FAA will no doubt hear some vocal objections.
In June, Palm Beach County, along with Palm Beach and West Palm Beach, asked a federal court to scrap the airspace restrictions.
The local governments claim the FAA acted hastily and failed to consider less-disruptive alternatives.
The lawsuit, which is still pending, said Mar-a-Lago’s no-fly zone pushed the problems to Trump’s neighbors. Residents complain of being disturbed by planes from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., leading to “an inability to converse outside due to aircraft noise,” along with the smell of jet fuel inside homes and even “soot.”
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