Just over a week after "Trump Force One" touched down at the newly renamed President Donald J Trump international airport in West Palm Beach, the grand vision of a gold-plated transportation hub is already showing cracks. Outside, highway signs and the airport’s website trumpet the oversized logo of the new name. Inside, at ticket counters and baggage halls, many physical signs still read Palm Beach International (PBI).
The issue, as Joseph Abruzzo, the county administrator, told the Miami Herald, is money. A state law signed in March by Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, mandated the name change on a reluctant county commission, which voted 4-3 in May to approve a trademark deal with the Trump Organization – some members fearing consequences if they did not. Yet Florida’s $117.6bn budget, signed by DeSantis last month, allocated only $2.75m for the switch, half the estimated $5.5m cost.
“Trump's airport rebrand stalls as Florida and county hold back funds for signage.”
“We will be able to make the baseline, necessary changes to signage with the $2,750,000,” Abruzzo said. “But for the full extensive signage, we will be needing the other half of those funds from the state.” Palm Beach county is refusing to cover the shortfall, with some commissioners insisting taxpayers cannot and should not be left on the hook.
There is no clear timeline for when, or even if, new signs will be installed and the airport fully becomes DJT – the three-letter code using the president’s initials, set to become its formal aviation industry designation from 18 August. The airport’s website, meanwhile, offers an apparent contradiction: “The remaining costs will be funded through the [Palm Beach county] Department of Airports’ operating budget and capital improvement program.” That statement has raised fears among critics that funds earmarked for safety and other crucial improvements at the department’s four airports could be diverted.
The rebranding, one of Donald Trump’s most grandiose vanity projects, was meant to transform the airport – less than 5 miles from his Mar-a-Lago resort – into a self-aggrandizing, gold-plated transport hub. Instead, with state and county at odds over who pays, the makeover remains half-finished, leaving passengers on the concourse to wonder which airport they are really in.