In 1941, the Oklahoma City (OKC) Municipal Airport was renamed in honor of Will Rogers, an Oklahoma native and Cherokee Indian. Rogers was a legendary cowboy, actor, writer, and comedian who died in Alaska in 1935 in a plane crash with famous pilot Wiley Post.
Now, Will Rogers International Airport, Oklahoma’s busiest airport, is about to change its name again.
The new name recently approved by the Oklahoma City Council will be “OKC Will Rogers International Airport.”
Why change identity?
“Promoting the airport and the community prompted the name and logo change,” Oklahoma City Airport Director Jeff Mulder said in a statement. He added that adding “OKC” and “international” to the name will help market the airport to airlines and businesses around the world.
After a 2021 terminal expansion and website redesign, the airport is looking for a “more modern feel,” OKC spokeswoman Stacey Hamm said. “We felt it was time to go through a branding process to update the entire airport,” she added, including reevaluating the airport’s name.
The airport hired Nominee Design, a branding firm that spent three months researching and visiting airports of similar size to OKC. The firm conducted surveys and interviews with passengers as well as state and community leaders.
Questions about dropping “Will Rogers” from the airport name were included in surveys and interviews.
“We had a few people say they didn’t know who he was and that they would be fine if his name wasn’t included,” Hamm said. But because of Rogers’ connection to Oklahoma, they decided to keep his name and “focus more on his contributions to aviation rather than the cowboy thing and highlight OKC in the name,” she added.
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What about adding the word “international” to the airport name?
OKC currently doesn’t have any international flights on its route map. However, the airport is building an international customs facility that is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2025, according to Hamm. The airport is also in talks with two airlines to offer nonstop flights to Cancun and other destinations in Mexico.
“We hope to know something soon,” she said.
While the new name will emphasize rather than change the airport’s three-letter code — OKC — the renaming will incur costs.
In addition to the branding firm’s fee ($160,000), the old name is used in many places, including the airport’s website, signs on state highways and throughout the airport grounds.
Hamm said OKC’s new website is expected to launch in November with “new brand colors, new typography and other branding elements.”
While there is no official figure on how much it would cost to complete the airport-wide renaming, it is estimated that updating the current entrance signage alone would cost around $17,000.
Other airports have changed their names
OKC isn’t the only airport rebranding to attract more airlines and passengers.
In California, the Oakland Port Board of Commissioners voted to rename from Metropolitan Oakland International Airport (OAK) to San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport last May.
The the purpose of that name change is to “attract more nonstop destinations by raising visitors’ awareness of the airport’s geographic location on the San Francisco Bay,” the Oakland Board of Port Commissioners said.
However, in response to the Oakland airport renaming, the San Francisco City Attorney filed a federal trademark infringement lawsuit against the city of Oakland. Doug Yakel, a spokesman for San Francisco International Airport (SFO), said the lawsuit is still ongoing.
In Nevada, McCarran International Airport (LAS) in Las Vegas was officially renamed Harry Reid International Airport in December 2021 in honor of the former U.S. senator.
Additionally, Louisville International Airport (SDF) in Kentucky was renamed Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport in 2019 in honor of boxing champion and Louisville native Muhammad Ali.
However, efforts to rename Nashville International Airport (BNA) after Oprah Winfrey and to rename Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) Fred Rogers International Airport in honor of children’s television host Mister Rogers were unsuccessful.
