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Miami (USA).- An American pilot sued the Government of Florida for renaming the Palm Beach International Airport, where the president has his Mar-a-Lago club, in honor of President Donald Trump, arguing that it creates "uncertainty" and possible "security risks" in the air.
George W. Poncy, a local aviator licensed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), filed a lawsuit against the state governor, Republican Ron DeSantis, and the state Department of Transportation in Florida's Fifteenth Judicial Circuit.
The man is asking to repeal law HB 919 that DeSantis signed in March to rename the current 'Palm Beach International Airport' as 'President Donald J. Trump International Airport'. "The statute invalidates the established local authority that governs the property, operation, and administration of airports and imposes a unilateral appointment order without coordination with federal aviation systems and local government bodies," states the lawsuit, available this Friday online. The plaintiff argues that there is "uncertainty" because the name change is conditioned, as established by law, on a commercial agreement between the owners of the rights to the Trump surname and Palm Beach County to develop signage, merchandise, and advertising with the new identity of the airfield. It also asserts that the change could generate "inconsistencies" in federal aviation systems while the new name is updated in databases and "ambiguity in communications between pilots and air traffic controllers". "In aviation, even minor inconsistencies in airport identification can create safety risks during route, sequence, and emergency operations," stipulates in the legal document.You may be interested in: The White House presents the design of Trump's triumphal arch for Washington
The shift comes amid Trump and Republicans' electoral defeats in Palm Beach, where Democrat Emily Gregory won a special election last month that flipped the Florida House of Representatives district that includes Mar-a-Lago. The change adds to the effort by the president and Republicans to rename institutions after him, as he has already done with the 'Trump Kennedy Center' and the 'Trump Peace Institute' in Washington. In addition, at least three cities in Florida have named streets in honor of the president: Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Hialeah, and Palm Beach County, which named 'Donald J. Trump Boulevard' the road leading to Mar-a-Lago.
