Palm Beach International Airport was officially renamed President Donald J. Trump International Airport on Thursday, marking the latest public institution to be renamed after US President Donald Trump.
The change follows legislation signed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in March to rename the airport in Palm Beach, where Trump owns his Mar-a-Lago resort.
"I don't think there's anybody more synonymous with Palm Beach than Donald Trump, maybe in all of Florida," Trump's son, Eric Trump, told Fox News.
The US Federal Aviation Administration changed the airport's three-letter identifier from PBI to DJT on Thursday. However, the airport said passengers will continue using the PBI code when booking flights until Aug. 18, when the new code will be fully integrated into airline reservation systems, baggage tags and tickets.
Airport officials said the renaming project cost about $5.5 million.
Eric Trump and members of his family arrived aboard the first aircraft to land at the newly renamed airport in the early hours of Thursday on a private jet.
"There's no way in hell I was letting UPS be the first plane to land," Eric Trump said in an interview with Fox & Friends.
The renaming drew criticism from some travellers at the airport.
"I don't think that a president should be the one who puts himself up for a name change. This does not make me happy at all," said Faith, a visitor from New York.
Florida resident Melanie Lewis described the move as "dictatorship."
Another traveller, Peter Bowe, called the decision "ridiculous," saying, "Everything has to be about this guy. It's just absolutely insane."
Since returning to office for a second term last year, Trump's name has been attached to a range of federal projects and initiatives, including a planned class of US Navy warships, a visa programme for wealthy foreigners, a government prescription drug website and federal savings accounts for children.
JetBlue Airways is the largest airline operating at the airport, while Delta Air Lines and American Airlines together account for about two-thirds of its flights.
Several US airports are named after political figures, including the airport in Little Rock, Arkansas, which honours former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, although it retained its original airport code, LIT.
