Donald Trump has been vexed by noisy airplanes flying over his Mar-a-Lago estate ever since he bought it in 1985.
Four decades on, Trump finally has the relief he wanted. In October, the Federal Aviation Administration barred all flights over Mar-a-Lago below 2,000 feet, even when the president isn’t there, citing security concerns. The order is in place for a year and can be renewed.
To comply, the flight path from nearby Palm Beach International Airport had to shift. Now the cacophony is haunting residents of Palm Beach Island and those across the intracoastal waterway in West Palm Beach who previously were spared the noise, and they aren’t happy. Complaints have skyrocketed and local officials’ emails are flooded with gripes. A committee meeting on airport noise late last year drew dozens of disgruntled residents from one of the US’s wealthiest neighborhoods, many of whom claimed they’re being driven mad by all the commotion.
Some also find it particularly galling that the airport is set to soon be renamed President Donald J. Trump International Airport at the behest of Florida’s Republican-run legislature.
Alexandra Kauka, whose late husband was the German publisher Rolf Kauka, lives in the “estate section” of Palm Beach where homes often sell for more than $30 million, roughly two miles north of Mar-a-Lago. She said the noise is “unbearable” and that “you can no longer enjoy your existence outdoors.”
“The president wants to be well-liked here, and that’s hard to accomplish for him in Palm Beach at the moment,” she said. “It’s just reckless and unnecessary.”
Kauka is one of the few residents in Palm Beach, where the median home sale was $13.2 million at the end of last year, who was willing to go on the record. But behind closed doors, a group is quietly organizing to potentially pursue legal action, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations. They’re speaking with attorneys and placing expensive noise monitors throughout the island and across the waterway to collect data, which the group's anonymous organizer is publishing at PBInoise.com. The site tracks daily noise from planes, ranks loudest days and frequency of flights to “help the viewer understand how serious an impact the noise from plane traffic that has been routed away from Mar-a-Lago is having on residents.”
A plane on the new flight path in Palm Beach, Florida. Bloomberg
They say that Trump is using the power of the presidency to solve a personal problem and fortify the value of his Mar-a-Lago property. They scoff at the idea the change was driven by security concerns, pointing out that the ban applies even when the president is nowhere near his beach club. Most say they understood flight path changes when Trump was in town, but see the 24/7 ban as a step too far.
“People in the neighborhoods affected tell me they think this is about Trump not wanting the noise and soot on the patios and beach chairs he has by the pool at Mar-a-Lago,” said US Representative Lois Frankel, a Democrat who represents part of Palm Beach County.
Frankel had a classified meeting with the Secret Service in January, and has requested another in hopes of getting answers and potential solutions. The congresswoman said that the previous flight path affected 2,200 homes, compared with 11,000 homes under the new one.
The new routes over Palm Beach are just one of the many ways residents of South Florida have had to adjust to sharing a home with the president. Neighbors routinely sit in extended traffic jams and encounter road closures when he’s in town. Boaters’ use of nearby waterways is restricted and drawbridge schedules can be altered. Palm Beach County officials estimated they spent $93,000 per day protecting Trump when he was running in 2024.
It's likely an extra annoyance to many county residents who don't like the president. While Palm Beach County, once a Democratic stronghold, has grown more conservative in recent years, it's still one of the few Florida counties that Trump didn’t win in 2024.
Of course Trump has brought benefits to the region too. He has elevated Palm Beach’s profile, especially among the politically aligned, with high-profile events and guests at his estate. Real estate agents buzzed about a “Trump bump” in the aftermath of his election to a second term.
More broadly, property values in South Florida have soared since the pandemic, when a steady stream of wealthy people from the rest of the country relocated there. They’ve brought some jobs with them, with firms like Citadel and Palantir Technologies Inc. moving headquarters there, while Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Goldman Sachs have opened or expanded offices.
Decades-Long Fight
A spokesman for the airport said its officials understand the community’s concerns, but emphasize that all decisions related to aircraft flight paths are made solely by the FAA. A Trump administration official, who asked not to be identified, said that the procedures in place keep operations safe and efficient. The FAA didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Palm Beach International is a mid-sized regional airport, serving about 8.7 million passengers last year. It sees roughly 15% of the traffic that goes to Miami International Airport, 70 miles south. But as a longstanding winter haven for the ultra wealthy, 65% of takeoffs and landings in Palm Beach are private planes.
Trump’s rage about the flights goes back some 40 years. In 1988, Trump formed a PAC, the Noise Pollution Action Fund, and backed two county commission candidates with it. They both lost, according to local reporting, because of perceptions they were just doing Trump’s bidding.
The next year, the Miami Herald reported on Trump’s annoyance at the planes flying over his club. At a Mar-a-Lago fundraiser for the Noise Pollution Action Fund, as tuxedoed bartenders handed out cocktails and canapes to guests, the roar of a 727 passed overhead.
“Sonsabitches,” the Herald quoted Trump as saying. “Can you believe the stupidity?”
Trump continued to lobby local officials to move Palm Beach airport entirely. In 1995, he sued Palm Beach County, seeking $75 million in damages. Trump dropped the matter after the county agreed to lease him more than 200 acres of land that he later transformed into the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach.
In 2010, Trump sued again over a proposed expansion at the airport. The suit was eventually dismissed, and the expansion didn’t happen because of the Great Recession.
His third unsuccessful suit, in 2015, accused officials of sending aircraft in “a single-file route over Mar-a-Lago” and sought $100 million in damages, claiming noise, vibrations and soot from the planes were destroying his mansion’s porous stone and antique Spanish tiles. He dropped it after he was elected president, prompting a county commissioner at the time to point out that winning the presidency effectively gave Trump what he wanted by having a no-fly zone imposed while he was in town.
Property Values
If the changes to the flight path remain after Trump leaves office, the issue represents more than a noise nuisance for homeowners. Some studies and brokers say that being under the flight path of a major airport can reduce property value by 10% to 20%.
Some of the homes affected are among some of the most valuable in the country — sprawling waterfront mansions. Many residents point out that Trump bought Mar-a-Lago knowing it was in the flight path, but that they purposefully chose homes away from airplane noise.
“We’re talking about really very significant changes in property value here,” venture capitalist David Skok said at a Citizens’ Committee on Airport Noise meeting in December. Skok said he paid “a fortune” for his home in the estate section of Palm Beach in 2021. He pointed out that Trump was well aware Mar-a-Lago was under the flight path when he purchased it, but has been "fighting it ever since."
“Trump has made it clear that he has not liked being part of this flight path and this might be his attempt to try to fix that for the value of his home,” he said.
Still, Jessica Julian, a luxury real estate broker with Douglas Elliman, said the insatiable demand for Palm Beach homes has meant newcomers mostly look past the airplane noise.
“Demand is just outpacing the inventory in this market,” she said, noting that many prospective buyers coming from New York and other areas are used to a certain amount of hubbub. “We do get questions about the airport noise, but we have so many people wanting to move here that it's just not a big deal.”
Neighborhood groups and local politicians have limited recourse when it comes to challenging the FAA and the Secret Service. Officials and residents alike have complained about a lack of information from federal authorities on the issue.
Palm Beach County commissioners voted in December to file a legal challenge against the FAA in hopes it would at least provide answers as to why the change was necessary and seek a more tolerable solution. But the county’s attorney said the FAA suit will likely take at least a year to resolve.
Trump’s fight is also reflective of the fraught, often antagonistic relationship that he has had with the genteel Palm Beach crowd. He’s fought with neighbors and officials over everything from converting Mar-a-Lago into a private club to mounting an 80-foot flag pole that violated code.
But as Trump transitioned from brash reality TV star to the president, Palm Beach society and officials have had little choice but to accommodate him.
“I don’t like losing in life, and we’re not gonna lose this issue,” Trump said at his anti-noise pollution fundraiser back in 1989, according to the Herald.
“If I were a politician here I’d make this my No. 1 issue,” he said, “and I’d be elected president because, really, that’s what could happen.”
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