Departure
96%
vs 95% ▲ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Palm Beach International Airport lies immediately west of downtown West Palm Beach, Florida, and is the principal commercial airport for Palm Beach County. Operated by the Palm Beach County Department of Airports, it began life in 1936 as Morrison Field and later served as a major USAAF and USAF transport and training base before returning to civilian control. For the simulator pilot it offers a busy Class C environment with a full ILS-equipped runway system and controlled airspace typical of a major regional airport.
Palm Beach International Airport (ICAO KPBI) sits just west of the city of West Palm Beach in Palm Beach County, Florida, and is operated by the Palm Beach County Department of Airports. It is the primary airport serving West Palm Beach and the surrounding communities of Boca Raton, Wellington, Boynton Beach, Jupiter and Palm Beach Gardens, and ranks as the third-busiest airport in the Miami metropolitan area behind Miami International and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International. In 2026 the airport was renamed President Donald J. Trump International Airport by Florida legislation, though it continues to be identified by its long-standing ICAO code. For a visiting VFR or IFR pilot in the simulator, the field combines a mix of long airline-length runways, a shorter crosswind pair, and full instrument approach capability, all within Class C controlled airspace.
The airport lies in unincorporated Palm Beach County, bordered on the west by Military Trail, with direct road access from Interstate 95, Southern Boulevard and Congress Avenue, giving a clear sense of its position relative to West Palm Beach immediately to the east. It is classified as a Class C airport with customs facilities, meaning arriving VFR traffic should expect to establish two-way radio contact with Miami Approach before entering the surrounding airspace. Clearance delivery, ground, tower and approach/departure services are all provided, reflecting its status as a busy scheduled-airline field within the wider South Florida airspace structure alongside Miami International and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International.
Palm Beach International has three physical runways. The main runway, 10L/28R, is 9,174 ft long on the 28R threshold (8,792 ft from 10L) with a hard surface, runway lighting and ILS on both ends. A second parallel runway, 10R/28L, is a shorter hard-surfaced strip of about 3,201-3,202 ft, also lit. The crosswind runway, 14/32, is 6,929 ft from runway 14 and 6,501 ft from runway 32, hard-surfaced and lit but without ILS. Field elevation is 13 ft.
Radio services at Palm Beach International include Miami Approach on 124.6 MHz and Departure on 127.35 MHz, Tower on 119.1 MHz, Ground on 121.9 MHz, and Clearance Delivery. ATIS is broadcast on 123.75 MHz, with an ASOS also available on 119.975 MHz. UNICOM is on 122.95 MHz, and a company/ramp frequency (CLD) is listed on 121.6 MHz. The main runway pair, 10L/28R, is equipped with ILS, supporting instrument approaches to the airport's principal runway.
Palm Beach International Airport began operations in 1936 as Morrison Field, named for Grace Morrison in recognition of her role in planning and organising the airfield. The first flight from the field was a New York-bound Eastern Air Lines DC-2, and the airport was formally dedicated on December 19, 1936. In 1937 the Palm Beach Aero Corporation leased land at the field and built hangars and the first terminal, known as the Eastern Air Lines Terminal, on the south side of the airfield. During the Second World War the U.S. Army Air Forces used Morrison Field for training and as a staging base for the Allied invasion of France, with many aircraft departing for the United Kingdom ahead of the D-Day landings; it also served as a stopover point on the route to India via Brazil and West Africa. Ownership returned to Palm Beach County in 1947, and the airport was renamed Palm Beach International Airport in 1948. The U.S. Air Force returned in 1951, establishing Palm Beach Air Force Base under the Military Air Transport Service, with the 1707th Air Transport Wing training nearly 23,000 airmen during the Korean War on types including the C-124, C-118, C-97 and C-54. In 1956 the Air Weather Service flew the first WB-50D Superfortress hurricane-hunter aircraft from the base. Air Force operations wound down through the late 1950s and the base finally closed in 1962, with all property transferred to Palm Beach International Airport. Delta Air Lines began scheduled flights in 1959 and Capital Airlines in 1960, with Eastern Air Lines introducing turbine-powered Lockheed L-188 Electra services the same year and DC-8 nonstops to Idlewild (New York) from December 1960. Air Force One was a frequent visitor during John F. Kennedy's presidency in the early 1960s, and local voters rejected a proposal to relocate the airport in favour of expanding the existing site; an eight-gate main terminal opened in October 1966. In February 2026 the Florida Legislature approved legislation renaming the airport President Donald J. Trump International Airport, signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis, with the change taking effect on July 9, 2026 - the first time a sitting U.S. president's name has been given to an American airport.
Palm Beach International today operates as a major scheduled-service airport handling over 8.6 million passengers and around 159,000 aircraft operations in 2025, served by American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines and others with domestic routes and connections to the Bahamas, Canada and beyond. It functions within controlled Class C airspace with full approach, tower, ground and clearance delivery services, and customs facilities are available for international arrivals. The airport is operated by the Palm Beach County Department of Airports, which continues to manage airfield policy and operations following the 2026 renaming to President Donald J. Trump International Airport.