The celebrities are usually local people who have achieved fame and acclaim in some area of their life.  It makes sense that an airport, as the gateway to its community, would want to celebrate its greatest local hero.  But some are more obvious choices for such an honour than others, as we will see.

LaGuardia

Naming airports after celebrities is not a new idea.  The name might not sound familiar to us now, but Fiorello LaGuardia was the New York City mayor who championed the construction of the airport in the 1930’s, and when he died in 1947, the airport was named after him.

John Wayne and Bob Hope

Having an airport named after you is a great honour – so much so that it can cause a strange kind of rivalry to develop.  In 1979 the Orange County Airport was re-named after John Wayne, who had just died.  His fellow actor Bob Hope was said to be jealous that Wayne had an airport named after him, and he didn’t.  If only he could have known that, in 2003, after his death, he would be honoured with his very own Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, where he kept his personal aeroplane.

John F Kennedy

Often the death of an admired person will result in an immediate name change for an airport.  Idlewild Airport in New York changed its name to John F Kennedy just a month after he was assassinated.

John Lennon

However it’s not always an instant occurrence.  Liverpool waited 22 years after John Lennon’s death before they renamed Liverpool airport in his honour.  He is hailed as one of the city’s greatest sons and the move was a popular choice.

George Best

But sometimes the renaming of an airport can cause controversy.  George Best was a widely respected footballer, but his troubled private life led people in Belfast to question whether a better figure could have been chosen to represent their city. For now though, Belfast has George Best airport.

Ronald Reagan

At other times the naming of an airport can cause a fuss for political reasons, such as when Washington’s National airport was renamed after Ronald Reagan in 1998.

Genghis Khan

But it could be even worse. In 2006, Mongolia’s Buyant Ukhaa Airport changed its name to Genghis Khan.  This was done without much publicity, so passengers at the time were a little surprised to hear the announcement that they would be touching down at the airport of a bloodthirsty tyrant who created terror across 2 continents.  It certainly wouldn’t encourage me to pay a visit, anyway!

Robin Hood

So we’ve established that you don’t have to be dead to have an airport named after you, and you don’t necessarily have to be very great or good either.  And it seems that you don’t even have to be real to achieve this honour.  Obviously there was a lack of local heroes around in Doncaster and Sheffield, since they chose the legendary figure of Robin Hood to represent the airport.  And wasn’t he supposed to be from Nottingham, anyway?  That’s really scraping the barrel.

We’d like to hear from you?

If you could name an airport after someone, who would it be?  Please leave your comments below.

Picture Credits

Fiorello LaGuardia – Library of Congress

John Wayne – Roger Gaw

Bob Hope – Wikipedia

John F Kennedy – Library of Congress

John Lennon – Roy Kerwood

George Best – Expo67

Ronald Reagan – Wikipedia

Genghis Khan – Abdullah

Robin Hood – Wikipedia