The case for naming airports after famous personages or not

An inevitable consequence of airports being bestowed with the monikers of famous (mostly political) personages is that they still end up being called by their original names by many. Palam and Sahar, for instance, persist in popular parlance though Delhi and Mumbai’s international airports are formally named after Indira Gandhi and Chhatrapati Shivaji. Brevity appears to be the key factor, and may be the reason for the Union aviation ministry considering that airports may henceforth be called only after the relevant city rather than personalities. That would certainly resolve the knotty issue of choosing between Punjab’s suggestion of Bhagat Singh and Haryana’s Mangal Sein for Chandigarh’s airport. It would also be more passenger friendly as it would leave travellers in no doubt about their port of call, as airports can be quite confusing if their names do not have instant connect with a city, such as Rajiv Gandhi’s with Hyderabad.

Of course, if names are a must, India could always fall back on show business, taking a cue from the greater Los Angeles area that has airports after John Wayne and Bob Hope. Indians would surely not begrudge a Raj Kapoor or Kishore Kumar. However, as several film stars have also become even bigger political stars, even such a proviso could well run into turbulence too.