Airport Names

Hi Brent. I like to use the Internet and search Wikipedia both for airports in or near a city, but also the airlines serving the airports are listed. Also, consider an Internet map search to confirm airports are truly next to the cities you prefer.

It's not just in Europe - many (most?) major airports in the US and elsewhere have been named to honor someone.

The official name of the Frankfurt airport seems to be just Frankfurt Airport (Flughafen Frankfurt am Main).

Likewise, Munich seems to be just Munich Airport (Flughafen München).

I guess there Germans are saving those up to honor someone really popular after they pass away (Berlin's new, not-yet-opened airport was named for Willy Brandt, so they do the naming thing).

Vienna seems to be just Vienna International Airport (Flughafen Wien).

Zurich seems to be also called Kloten, the neighborhood it's located in.

So it seems that the naming honors for these are still up for grabs. Do something really great for German or Austria and someday people could be flying in to Vienna Brent International.

Frankfurt is called FRAPORT but sometimes they call it Starport.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Snph22qSUMU

I know Vienna's airport as »Schwechat«, like Amsterdam's Schiphol and Brussel's Zaventem called after its location. It is a relative new phenomenon to name airports after local or national celebrities. München's airport seems nowadays to be called »Franz Josef Strauß«.

The people who maintain the airports entries for Wikipedia generally do a very good job at information for those places.

The new Berlin airport is officially Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg Willy Brandt, but I informally call it 'the third sign of the apocalypse if it ever goes operational'

Hmm, I don't know that I would call naming airports after people anything new. O'Hare Airport was named after a WWII pilot from Chicago in the late 1950's. Of course, Kennedy was Idlewild before it was renamed after JFK. Then there is Boston Logan, John Wayne Airport in LA area, Lambert in St. Louis, Dulles and Regan in the DC area and so on. So, maybe it's more an American thing.

Houston's international airport is named after George HW Bush. John Wayne Airport is in Orange County.

San Diego used to be Lindberg Field and LAX was Tom Bradley. The airport in Madrid is actually in Barajas and was called Barajas but has been renamed Adolfo Suarez.

Munich Airport is named after Franz Josef Strauss

Ones to avoid - Frankfurt Hahn and Munich Memmingen. Both are misleadingly-named budget-airline airports that are a very long distance from the cities they purport to serve (although Hahn can be useful if you want to visit Trier or the scenic bits of the Mosel valley).

The Washington DC airport mentioned up topic is "Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport." It was a case of adding another layer rather than renaming. Locals tend to call in National anyway. Its code is still DCA.

Of course, O'Hare's code is ORD, from when it was Orchard Park Airport.

Chicago Ohare named after Butch Ohare. Designation ORD Orchard Place Field, a former apple orchard, and Douglas Field.

I think the Italians showed a lot of class in naming their airports for Leonardo da Vinci and Galileo Galilei, two of the greatest minds of the Renaissance. So unlike Americans naming airports for grade B movie actors.

And, as has been noted, the key is knowing the 3-letter airport code which may have no relation to the current airport "name" -- for instance, don't try to book to MUN for Munich/Strauss , it's MUC.

I forget where I say this first...might have even been here...but here's a link to a website that gives a brief history and meaning of the names/three-letter codes for airports.