Respecting Names
By Chris Smith
This likely will not be the most engrossing article I ever write but I feel a need to explain my methodology when it is me updating on the home page in respect of airport names, because even I don't like some of my choices, but that's just the point - it isn't my choice to make.
Perhaps it's because of our own history of controversial names that I feel a need to respect what the owners of an airport choose to call their facility, I don't know. I was surprised recently to find there are people against our current name, I then realised given their age that they've grown up with Durham Tees Valley and have always had the connection with that title! When we were about to change our name back in 2019, I pushed the Mayor and management alike to follow the industry trend of dropping the "International", keeping it clean and simple. Obviously they were never going to listen to me, but look at the table below - there are only three other airports in the UK that still feature the once popular suffix and of those Aberdeen has bucked the trend by adding it recently. Leeds Bradford appears to be the latest to dispense with it.
When I visit an airport, I always make a point of checking the branding - other than signposts to the local towns/villages nowhere does Oxford feature the term "Kidlington", nor does Nottingham include "Tollerton" etc, irrespective of whether or not they did in the past. Otherwise we would be Middleton St George Movements!
It's a poor analogy, and one that I've used before, but if someone is named William or Jennifer and their preference is William or Jennifer, they're not going to appreciate being called Bill or Jenny.
The example that got me thinking about this, and one that our audience will almost certainly have picked up on, is "Cornwall Newquay". It doesn't read right, I don't particularly like it, yet that's what appears above their terminal door and in their branding, so who are we to argue? My feeling is it would look perfectly fine if it was reversed, but hey ho.
Some might ask "Why does it matter? Our viewers won't care". True, but I'll never not hold myself to the highest professional standard, we are providing a service after all.
All of this applies only to the primary name as the "cells" on the home page only have enough room for this. Names can be made up of up to four segments:- prefix, primary, secondary and suffix and we can more often than not discard the other three, unless two airports in the same city require distinguishing, e.g. Belfast City or International (unless a military movement in which case Aldergrove would supersede Belfast anyway, which is not used by the civilian side).
UK Airports
| PREFIX | PRIMARY | SECONDARY | SUFFIX | MISCONCEPTION |
| Aberdeen | International | Dyce (incorrect) | ||
| George Best | Belfast | City | ||
| Belfast | International | Aldergrove (military only) | ||
| Birmingham | ||||
| Bournemouth | ||||
| Brighton | City | Shoreham (historic) | ||
| Bristol | ||||
| Chester Hawarden | Chester or Hawarden (incomplete) | |||
| Chichester Goodwood | Goodwood (incomplete) | |||
| Cornwall Newquay | Newquay (incomplete) | |||
| Cotswold | Kemble (historic) | |||
| Doncaster Sheffield | Doncaster (incomplete/historic grass airfield) | |||
| Doncaster Sheffield | Robin Hood (historic) | |||
| East Midlands | ||||
| Exeter | ||||
| Fife | Glenrothes (incorrect) | |||
| Glasgow | ||||
| Glasgow Prestwick | Prestwick (incomplete) | |||
| Gloucestershire | Staverton | Gloucester (incomplete) | ||
| Guernsey | ||||
| Humberside | ||||
| Inverness | ||||
| Isle of Man | Ronaldsway | |||
| Jersey | ||||
| Leeds Bradford | ||||
| Leicester | Leicester East (incorrect) | |||
| Liverpool | John Lennon | |||
| London Biggin Hill | Biggin Hill (incomplete) | |||
| London City | ||||
| London Gatwick | Gatwick (incomplete) | |||
| London Heathrow | Heathrow (incomplete) | |||
| London Luton | Luton (incomplete) | |||
| London Oxford | Oxford (incomplete) | |||
| London Oxford | Oxford Kidlington (incorrect) | |||
| London Southend | Southend (incomplete) | |||
| London Stansted | Stansted (incomplete) | |||
| Lydd | London Ashford | |||
| Manchester | ||||
| City | Manchester | Barton (historic) | ||
| Newcastle | International | |||
| Norwich | ||||
| Nottingham | City | Nottingham Tollerton (incorrect) | ||
| Retford Gamston | Gamston (incomplete) | |||
| Southampton | ||||
| Stapleford | Stapleford Tawney (incorrect) | |||
| Teesside | International | Durham Tees Valley (historic) | ||
| Wellesbourne Mountford | Wellsbourne (incomplete/spelling error) | |||
| Wolverhampton | Halfpenny Green | |||
| Wycombe | Booker | Air Park |
There is a tiny bit of hypocrisy on my part in that I am unlikely to ever apply "London" to Biggin Hill or Oxford (not sure why I do with Southend to be honest), or use Cotswold over Kemble. I might have to start practicing what I preach in full rather than in part! I also wondered if releasing an unrelated article on aircraft nicknames at the same time as this one might come across as hypocritical, but I concluded you would never use such slang terms in an official capacity so it's not even comparable?
I would sign off with "I hope you enjoyed this article" - I don't think anyone would get any enjoyment from reading this but hopefully it was insightful!