Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Airport names that fly

The CIA fact book says that are 32124 airports in the world. Most of them are named after the cities or towns in which they are located. Quite a few are named after politicians who wished to leave an unmistakable imprint on the world map. Honestly, I nearly fell asleep while poring over these names. Most of them were downright unimaginative. The powers-that-be clearly don't understand the power of having a good name. Imagine landing in a Saurav Ganguly Airport or an Illayaraja Airport. Won't that do more to the tourism than the politician-pleasing, utterly forgettable names that have been palmed off to us? Think about it. Meanwhile, take a look at some very interesting names that piqued my curiosity..

Red Dog Airport Alaska
Pablo Picasso Airport, Malaga, Spain
Neil Armstrong Airport, Wapakoneta, Ohio
Batman Airport, Batman, Turkey
Needles Airport, Needles, California
Eureka Airport, Eureka, Nevada
Leonardo Da Vinci Airport, Fiumicino, Italy
Blue Ash Airport, Cincinnatti
Blue Grass Airport, Lexington, Kentucky
John Lennon Airport, Liverpool
Rogue Valley Airport, Medford, Oregon
Louis Armstrong Airport, Kenner, Louisiana
Red Bluff Airport, Red Bluff, California
Federico Fellini Airport, Rimini, Italy
Robin Hood Airport, Doncaster, UK
John Wayne Airport, Santa Ana, California
Charles M Schulz Airport, Santa Rosa, California
Nut Tree Airport, Vacaville, California
Marco Polo Airport, Venice, Italy
Copernicus Airport, Waclaw, Poland
Uranium City, Saskatchewan, Canada
Zero Airport, Ziro, Arunachal Pradesh
South Indian Lake Airport, Manitoba, Canada
Galileo Galilei Airport, Pisa, Italy


Clearly, the Italians, Californians, Canadians and Englishmen know a thing or two about naming airports. May be, we should learn from them. The Zero Airport was the only one that caught my eye in India. Are there any more hidden pearls? Do share.