Movement taking flight to rename airport

VIENNA

Juliet said to Romeo in the Shakespearean play: “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

But when it comes to small airports, a name change could be the thing that attracts the interest and curiosity of the flying public, airport officials say.

When the Harrison/Marion Regional Airport changed its name to Central West Virginia Regional Airport, air traffic tripled, said Dan Dickten, director of aviation at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport.

People also took to the name change from Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton International Airport to Lehigh Valley International Airport, said Tom Reich, a Washington, D.C., airline consultant.

Dickten has aggressively marketed the Youngstown-Warren airport to regional airlines since last year and continues to believe that one of them eventually will begin service here. Officials have suggested that daily air service would give a boost to the quality of life and economy of the region.

Like any business hoping to get an edge on the competition, the local airport might get the extra help it needs by changing its name, Dickten said.

What most airlines think of when they hear Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport is “a facility that lost daily commercial airline service in 2003,” Dickten said.

Dickten has proposed several possible new names but admits he’s not sure anyone has hit on the best one yet. He believes it might help to open up the question to the public.

Among the suggestions so far are Mahoning Valley Regional Airport, Northeast Ohio Regional Airport, Ohio-Penn Regional Airport, and Western Reserve Regional Airport.

Those names might better represent this part of eastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania and project a more-progressive and airline-friendly image, Dickten said.

Read more in Saturday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com