Palm Beach International Airport began operations in 1936 as
Morrison Field. It was named in honor of
Grace Morrison, a key participant in the planning and organization of the airfield. The first flight departing the field was a New York-bound
DC-2 operated by
Eastern Air Lines in 1936. The airport was officially dedicated on December 19, 1936. In 1937, the airport expanded beyond an airstrip and an administration building when the Palm Beach Aero Corporation obtained a lease, built hangars and the first terminal on the south side of the airport. The new terminal was known as the Eastern Air Lines Terminal. In 1947, the newly established
U.S. Air Force returned ownership of Morrison Field to Palm Beach County. The name was then changed to
Palm Beach International Airport one year later, in 1948. After several years of Palm Beach County fighting the Air Force presence in West Palm Beach, the Air Force started to close down operations there. The 1707 ATW was inactivated on June 30, 1959, and reassigned to
Tinker AFB, Oklahoma. With the wing's departure, Palm Beach County took over airfield operations. The Air Force retained a small presence at the base with the
9th Weather Group becoming the main operational unit at Palm Beach AFB, performing hurricane and weather research for the
Air Weather Service. The
Air Photographic and Charting Service (APCS) moved its
1370th Photo-Mapping Wing to the base, performing geodetic survey flights. The Air Force finally closed Palm Beach AFB in 1962, and all property was conveyed to Palm Beach International Airport the same year.
Delta Air Lines began scheduled flights in 1959 and
Capital Airlines in 1960. The first turbine-powered flights were Eastern Airlines
Lockheed L-188 Electras in 1959, and Eastern DC-8 nonstops to Idlewild started in December 1960.
Air Force One was a frequent visitor to PBI during
John F. Kennedy's presidency in the early 1960s. Local voters defeated a proposal to relocate the airport around this time, instead choosing to expand the existing facilities. In October 1966, an eight-gate Main Terminal opened on the northeast side of the airport; in 1974
Delta Air Lines moved into its own six-gate terminal with the airport's first jetways. By 1979, National operated daily
DC-10 service to JFK,
LaGuardia and
Miami, while Eastern operated L-1011s to
Atlanta and Delta operated L-1011s to
Tampa. By 1985, eight widebodies a day flew between PBI and the three New York airports. The 25-gate
David McCampbell Terminal, named for a World War II naval flying ace, was dedicated in 1988. In 2003, a new landscaped
I-95 interchange was built to decrease traffic on Southern Boulevard (
US 98) extending Turnage Boulevard (the road around the perimeter of the concourse). Competition from rapidly expanding
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport cut growth at the airport in the 1990s. The 2001 recession and the September 11 terrorist attacks further inhibited growth, but development in South Florida since 2002 has finally led to a surge of passenger traffic at the airport. In addition, discount carriers such as
JetBlue and
Southwest Airlines began service to PBI. In 2006, the county embarked on an interim expansion program by breaking ground on a 7-story parking garage and the addition of 3 gates in Concourse C. Long range expansions include gates at Concourse B and the eventual construction of a new 14 gate Concourse D to be extended east from the present terminal. departing Palm Beach Airport in 2017, carrying
President Donald J. Trump.
Donald Trump sued to block the expansion of one of the runways at PBI in 2010. In 2015, he initiated a $100 million lawsuit over the flight path that passes over his
Mar-a-Lago estate. Florida governor Ron DeSantis signed the bill into law in March 2026,
The Trump Organization filed to trademark the airport's new name. ==Facilities==