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Morrissey - a charming name for our airport
15/ 4/2004
WELCOME to Manchester Morrissey Airport.
It may seem like a flight of fancy, but the idea of a new name for the city's airport could yet take off.
The morose singer-songwriter of 1980s group The Smiths is just one - and perhaps more unlikely - of a long list of Great Mancunians who could lend a little kudos and glamour to the two runways and three terminals.
Liverpool's Speke Airport named itself after John Lennon and saw its profile suddenly raised internationally and its passengers numbers rise dramatically.
And Liverpool's owners, Peel Holdings, which also own the Trafford Centre, have announced it will name an £80m airport at the former RAF Finningley in South Yorkshire after Robin Hood, though he was from Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire.
Bosses at Manchester Airport are keeping an eye on developments and a spokesman admitted a name change could not be ruled out.
In January, Manchester Airport Group, the airport's umbrella company, renamed East Midlands Airport, which it owns, as Nottingham East Midlands Airport.
Other airports round the world have already played the name game and raised their profiles, with airports named after Ronald Reagan, John Wayne, Charles de Gaulle, John F Kennedy, Leonardo da Vinci, Mozart, Pope John Paul II and even the fictional character Don Quixote.
So should we re-name our airport, and if so, after whom? In a spirit of fun, the M.E.N. is suggesting a few possible candidates.
A recent Manchesteronline poll of great Mancunians placed pop star Morrissey, who had hits with songs like This Charming Man, well out in front.
But what about Bee Gees Airport and the Robin, Barry and Maurice Gibb terminals? They were after all from Chorlton.
AV Wroe, from Salford, was the first Englishman to build and fly his own plane, suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst was born in Moss Side and who could leave out LS Lowry?
Charles Rolls and Henry Royce had a long association with Manchester, and Sir Matt Busby would head a long queue of former footballers and club managers - with Best, Law and Charlton not far behind him.
Sir Richard Arkwright, who developed the Spinning Jenny, and wartime Nazi code-breaker Alan Turing, from Cheshire and Manchester University, could be candidates.
Manchester Airport has already had one name change of course. Many still know the airport as Ringway.
Who do you think the airport should be named after? Send us your suggestions by clicking on the link below.
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23/03/2006 at 01:51
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23/03/2006 at 14:04
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