President Donald Trump’s obsession with naming things after himself is causing chaos.
Palm Beach International Airport in South Florida has had its name since 1948, but its branding has now been erased and its name changed to President Donald J. Trump International Airport.
The switch—the first ever where an airport has adopted the name of a sitting president—has been accepted by the aviation world, but the transition has not been easy.
It has led to pandemonium for travelers using the airport who have had to contend with updated flight plans and last-minute code changes, The New York Times reported.
Aviation groups told the newspaper that such a move is highly unusual, but not as unusual as changing the code from PBI to DJT.
To give the aviation industry time to make the changes, the transition has happened in phases.
However, the process has confused passengers who used the airport during that time, causing confusion for a month because of the difference between the airport name and the code.
According to the Times, some people received notifications from travel agents and airlines that their flight itineraries had changed.
As of Tuesday, no flights could be booked to PBI—though they could on Monday.
The Daily Beast confirmed that people looking to fly to Florida on Tuesday had to search for President Donald J. Trump International (DJT), although some booking sites were still bracketing PBI after the new name to help passengers connect the two.
“Assigned three-letter location identifiers are considered permanent and are almost never changed—and then only with strong justification, primarily concerning air safety,” an International Air Transport Association handout said.
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, which was renamed to honor the former president in 1998, still has the code DCA, for District of Columbia Airport, its old name. And George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, renamed in 1997 for Reagan’s vice president who became president, still has its old code, IAH.
The FAA said naming decisions are made at a local level, with the rebrand signed into law by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the spring.
Locals who have lived in the shadow of the triple-runway airport, located just five miles from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, have been discombobulated by the change too.
“It’s definitely going to take a little getting used to with the code. I’ve said PBI my entire life and I definitely will be saying it for a time moving forward,” Royal Palm Beach village resident Logan Robinson told the Times. “In a way it will always be PBI to me.”
There have also been two lawsuits and thousands of people having signed petitions against the name change. There’s even been a $30 million bomb threat.
Having obtained a comments log through the Florida Public Records Act, NOTUS found that torrents of angry people had bombarded the airport with messages, most of them negative.
One even cited Trump, saying there was a bomb at the airport and on a plane that was departing, threatening to set them off if the money wasn’t sent.
“President Trump is focused on saving our country – not garnering recognition,” White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said in a statement to the Beast.
“However, given his vast accomplishments, including signing the largest tax cut in history, securing the border, restoring peace through strength, and more, it is natural that local officials and other great patriots want to recognize the President’s incredible work on behalf of the American people.”
