A [Name] by Any Other [Name] is Not the Same

Being a girl with a boy's name, I can honestly say sticking with a name is worth it. Sure, there were times when I wanted a more ordinary name. That was before I realized having an unusual name increases the likelihood that I will be remembered and recalled, two very important things for a writer. I would think they are important things for an airport. too.

Right now there is a debate raging about whether Williams Gateway Airport in Mesa, AZ should be renamed Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. I don't think it should. Here's why:

There is nothing memorable about Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. Yes, it clearly identifies where the airport is and two of the markets it serves but that's it. If all airports were named after the markets they serve we wouldn't have JFK/Kennedy or LaGuardia airports in New York, O'Hare airport in Chicago, Logan airport in Boston, Epply airport in Omaha, Love Field in Dallas or even Sky Harbor in Phoenix. Obviously, having a non-locational name has not hurt these airports. In fact, they are among some of the most widely recognized airports in the country if not the world. If the goal of the proposed name change is to make the airport more recognizable and therefore more appealing to travelers, it seems like Williams Gateway Airport is as likely to achieve that as Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport is.

Phoenix is a popular destination, so there is some logic to including Phoenix in the name of the airport. Travelers, however, choose destinations for what they think they will find there. Unfortunately, there is no romance, emotion or even a strong image associated with Phoenix-Mesa. At best it sounds like some flat , rocky hill rising from a barren landscape the periodically destroys itself with fire only to be rebuilt. Not my idea of a fun place to vacation more than once.

The IATA (International Air Transport Association) code, which is the 3 or 4 letter code pilots and savvy travelers use to identify the airport will not change just because the name of the airport does. IATA is a global association and IATA codes are used to identify airports around the world, not just in the U.S. so changing an airport's IATA is far more complex and difficult than changing the airport's name. The code for the airport in Mesa is IWA, easy to remember if the name of the airport is Williams Gateway Airport. Not so easy to remember if the name is Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. The logical codes for Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, such as PMG (Brazil), PGA (Page, AZ), and PMA (Tanzania), are already assigned, making it unlikely the IATA code would change along with the name.

Name changes don't always stick. Even if they eventually do stick, it takes a long time for that to happen. For instance, it is not uncommon to hear Florida's Kennedy Space Center referred to as Cape Canaveral, even in the national media. (Cape Canaveral, by the way is still the name of the town located to the south of the Kennedy Space Center, but between 1958 and 1969, it was also the name of the NASA facility.) Closer to home, many people still call Piestewa Peak Squaw Peak and Piestewa Parkway, Squaw Peak Parkway, despite the fact that both were renamed to honor Arizonan Lori Piestewa, the first Native American woman to die in combat on foreign soil after she gave her life in 2003 while serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Arguably, this name change was an improvement because it replaced a sexist and denigrating name with one that honors and exalts the contribution of the very groups (women and Native Americans) the original belittled. It will still take a generation to catch on. And what happens when somebody comes along in say 50 or 100 years and says "that name doesn't really tell people where the Peak or Parkway is, we should rename it Slightly East of Center Parkway"?

Okay, so Charles Linton Williams is not widely known among today's Arizonans or even today's Phoenicians. The legacy of Williams Air Force Base, which graduated more pilots and instructors than any other Air Force Facility before it closed in 1993, deserves to be remembered and honored and is still widely known. Renaming Williams Gateway Airport Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport accomplishes neither of these things. In fact, all the name honors is the transitory nature and attitudes expressed by so many modern Arizonans who have called the state home for less than a decade. It is a disservice, not just to the long-term residents of the area, but also to the traveling public. Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport adds nothing to the airport beyond making the airport easier to locate on a map, and let's face it, with MapQuest and Google maps it is easier to type in Williams Gateway, AZ than Phoenix-Mesa Gateway, AZ and the results are the same. If that is the only reason to change the airport's name, it is a poor one. Arizona is a young state with a young population. Let's treasure and preserve what history we have.

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Copyright 2007
Informed Ideas