What’s in an (airport) name? Will Rogers World Airport gets a rebrand

In 1941, Oklahoma City Municipal Airport (OKC) was renamed to honor Oklahoma native and Cherokee Indian Will Rogers. Rogers was a legendary cowboy, actor, writer and humorist who died in Alaska in 1935 during an airplane crash with noted aviator Wiley Post.

Now, Will Rogers World Airport, Oklahoma's busiest airport, is changing its name again.

The new name, approved recently by the Oklahoma City Council, will be "OKC Will Rogers International Airport."

Why the identity switch?

"Promotion of the Airport and the community drove the name and logo change," Jeff Mulder, Oklahoma City's director of airports, said in a statement. Adding "OKC" and "international" to the name will help with marketing the airport to airlines and businesses around the world, he added.

After a 2021 terminal expansion and a website redo, the airport was seeking "a more modern feel," OKC spokesperson Stacey Hamm said. "We felt it was time to also go through a branding process to update the whole airport." That included reevaluating the airport's name, she added.

The airport hired Nominee Design, a branding company that spent three months researching and visiting airports similar in size to OKC. The company conducted surveys and interviews with passengers, as well as state and community leaders.

Questions about dropping "Will Rogers" from the airport's name were included in the surveys and the interviews.

"We did have some individuals state they did not know who he was and would be OK if his name was not included," Hamm said. But because of Rogers' connection with Oklahoma, they decided to keep his name and "focus more on his contributions to aviation instead of the cowboy and highlight OKC in the name," she added.

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What about adding "international" to the airport's name?

OKC currently doesn't have any international flights on its route map. However, the airport is building an international customs facility that should be completed in the first quarter of 2025, according to Hamm. The airport is also in talks with two airlines to provide nonstop routes to Cancun and other destinations in Mexico.

"We are hoping to know something soon," she said.

While the new name will emphasize, and not alter, the airport's three-letter code — OKC — there are costs associated with the rebranding.

In addition to the branding company's fee ($160,000), the old name is used in many places, including the airport's website, state highway signs and across the airport property.

A new OKC website is scheduled to roll out in November with "the new brand colors, the new wordmark of the name and other brand elements," Hamm said.

While there's no official tally for what it will cost to complete the airport-wide name change, the estimate just to update the current entrance sign is about $17,000.

Other airports have switched names

OKC is not the only airport that has undergone a rebranding in an effort to attract more airlines and passengers.

In California, the Oakland Board of Port Commissioners voted to change the name of Metropolitan Oakland International Airport (OAK) to San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport this past May.

The goal of that name change is to "attract more nonstop destinations by boosting travelers' geographic awareness of the airport's location on the San Francisco Bay," the Oakland Board of Port Commissioners said.

However, in response to the Oakland airport name change, San Francisco's city attorney filed a federal trademark infringement lawsuit against the city of Oakland. Doug Yakel, spokesperson for San Francisco International Airport (SFO), said that the lawsuit is still ongoing.

In Nevada, McCarran International Airport (LAS) in Las Vegas was officially renamed Harry Reid International Airport in December 2021 to honor 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) as Fred Rogers International Airport to honor the children's TV host Mister Rogers have not succeeded.