Timeline
Feb. 13Trump’s private company filed for trademarks for airports using his name, including in the application numerous travel-related merchandise such as luggage, flight suits and plastic shoe protectors for the airport security screening process.
Read more Paramount Suffers Major Early Blow In Merger Lawsuit—And Billion-Dollar Losses Could Lie Ahead
Feb. 17The Trump Organization told the Associated Press it didn’t seek any profit but only protection against “bad actors” given that the Trump name is the “most infringed trademark in the world.”
March 30Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Trump ally, signed a law requiring Palm Beach County “to diligently pursue” clearing all requirements to rename Palm Beach International Airport to honor Trump, “including by obtaining approval of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and owner of the trademark authorizing its commercial use, and to timely commence signage and branding changes to maintain compliance with state law,” according to the airport’s FAQ page on the rebrand.
May 5The Palm Beach County Commission narrowly approved in a 4-3 vote granting the Trump Organization control of the name “Donald J. Trump International Airport,” and requiring licensed merchandise to be purchased through approved retailers while prohibiting the Trump Organization “from receiving royalties, fees, or revenue from the purchase or sale of any such merchandise by county or airport retailers.”
June 29DeSantis signed off on a $118 billion state budget for the coming fiscal year, but allocated only half the necessary funds to rebrand the airport.
July 9Palm Beach International Airport officially became President Donald J. Trump International Airport.
Aug. 18The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will begin referring to the airport by a new three-letter IATA code, DJT.
Big Number
$5.5 million. That’s how much it will cost to rename the airport. Palm Beach County officials said they cannot make up the shortfall from what the state has pledged. “We will be able to make the baseline, necessary changes to signage with the $2,750,000. But for the full extensive signage, we will be needing the other half of those funds from the state,” Joseph Abruzzo, the county administrator, told the Miami Herald this month. Yet the airport website states: “The remaining costs will be funded through the Department of Airports’ operating budget and capital improvement program.” Forbes reached out to Abruzzo’s office about the apparent contradiction but did not receive a response.
Read more Trump Administration Makes Damning New Allegations Against Cuba As Trump Teases Takeover
The Airport Gets New Name, But Trump Holds Trademark
In a highly unusual arrangement, Palm Beach County owns and operates the airport, but Trump holds the trademark. Commercial airports in the United States are virtually all publicly owned and operated by a state or local municipality that controls the trademarked name. Revenue is typically generated through “user-pays” models, where the airport charges usage fees to airlines (and passed on to customers), as well as through other streams such as parking fees, rental car facility charges, concessions and so on. The airport’s operator “entered into an agreement with” the Trump Organization to clarify “how the airport name may be used,” to “ensure compliance with the state law mandating the name change” and to protect the county from legal claims “including claims for trademark infringement and violations of the rights of publicity,” the airport website explains.
Could Trump Profit From His Airport Licensing Deal?
“The way the license agreement is worded is that the Trump Organization is not allowed to make any money off of goods sold at the airport,” Josh Gerben, founder and managing partner of Gerben IP, a trademark law firm headquartered in Washington, D.C., told Forbes. But that wouldn’t apply to merchandise sold at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club, less than five miles away. Sales at “off-airport premises would be fair game,” according to Gerben.
Renaming An Airport For A Sitting President Is Unprecedented
More than one quarter of all U.S. presidents have had an airport named after them, but Trump is the first to receive the honor while still in office. John F. Kennedy International Airport (New York City) was renamed after his assassination in 1963. In the late 1990s, airports were renamed after George H.W. Bush (Houston), Ronald Reagan (Washington) and Gerald Ford (Grand Rapids, Michigan). Abraham Lincoln (Springfield, Illinois) and Teddy Roosevelt (Dickinson, North Dakota) didn’t have airports named after them until the early 2000s. “The Trump airport renaming happened very quickly,” Gerben told Forbes. “Florida had to pass a law to make it happen and we’re still talking about a matter of months. That’s unusual, and obviously something they wanted to do while [Trump] was still president.”
Is Palm Beach’s Trump Airport Violating Federal Law By Using Presidential Seal?
The new airport logo depicts a bald eagle under an arc of stars holding olive branches in its talons, but it is not an exact replica of the presidential seal. Federal law prohibits the use of the presidential seal or a facsimile “for the purpose of conveying, or in a manner reasonably calculated to convey, a false impression of sponsorship or approval by the government,” with violations punishable by fines and up to six months imprisonment. But “the statute applies to the use of the seal, not of isolated elements,” Peter M. Shane, a New York University professor and leading scholar in U.S. constitutional and administrative law, told Forbes in an email. “The logo does not literally violate the legal ban on the unauthorized use of the presidential seal.”
The Aviation Industry Appears To Expect Blowback From Travelers
The airport rebranding is happening against a backdrop of Trump’s low approval ratings. Last week, an aviation blog reported that both United Airlines and American Airlines issued internal staff memos guiding interactions with customers unhappy with the renaming of Palm Beach International. United’s memo appeared to instruct employees to allow passengers ticketed to fly through Trump airport to be rerouted at no charge to alternative airports. “That internal message was poorly worded and not accurate,” a United Airlines spokesperson told Forbes in an email, clarifying passengers can change a ticket “without a fee for many reasons” but not “because of an airport’s name or three letter code.” Perhaps most telling is the revamped airport website’s lengthy list of FAQs pertaining to the name change, stressing “the name change is required by state law” and no property taxes will be allocated since “a state funding appropriation was approved to support the transition.”
Further Reading
Trump Wants His Name Trademarked For Airports—Raising Questions About Profiteering (Forbes)
Read more Visits To Taco Bell Plummeted 19% After Cyclosporiasis Outbreak Linked To Restaurant’s Lettuce