Why does the aviation industry use multiple names for the same airport?

[Mojo]

I had a recent domestic flight within Norway to Bergen whereby all the boarding pass, airport departure boards and announcements all referred to the destination of my flight as "Bergen." On board the plane however all the announcements referred to the airport as "Flesland." This, understandably, caused quite a bit of panic in a fellow customer who was sat behind me and boarded quite late, who, when the air hostess made an announcement, began pressing the call bell and asking other passengers sat near her whether the plane was going to Bergen.

I've noticed this a few other times recently too. Last summer when checking in for a flight to Istanbul, the British Airways automated check in terminals referred to Istanbul Airport as "ATATURK" (the code IST was transferred several years ago to the new airport) and another trip to Sao Paulo Guarulhos was referred to as "Guarulhos" on paperwork, but just "Sao Paulo" on announcements and screens at Heathrow.

So that leads me onto my question, why does the aviation industry insist on using multiple names for the same airport? Is this commonplace in the railway industry anywhere?

 

[Gaelan]

Is this commonplace in the railway industry anywhere?

Edinburgh/Waverley, although I don't believe any official communications use "Waverley" alone.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 26 May 2023 ==

Same with major stations in London and Birmingham, but again official communications seem pretty good about using either "city" or "city+station", never just "station".

In NI, there is of course Derry/Londonderry/Waterside/North West Transport Hub.

 

[AlterEgo]

A lot of airports have an “old” name which exists on legacy systems, some of which are quite ancient. On a recent flight I checked in to “Durham Tees Valley” on a KLM kiosk but my boarding pass and bags were labelled “Teesside” correctly.

 

[The exile]

Not helped by adding the name of the big city you hope people think you’re near to the name of the airport that is mikes awayFrankfurt (Hahn), London Oxford/Lydd spring to mind

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 27 May 2023 ==

I had a recent domestic flight within Norway to Bergen whereby all the boarding pass, airport departure boards and announcements all referred to the destination of my flight as "Bergen." On board the plane however all the announcements referred to the airport as "Flesland." This, understandably, caused quite a bit of panic in a fellow customer who was sat behind me and boarded quite late, who, when the air hostess made an announcement, began pressing the call bell and asking other passengers sat near her whether the plane was going to Bergen.

I've noticed this a few other times recently too. Last summer when checking in for a flight to Istanbul, the British Airways automated check in terminals referred to Istanbul Airport as "ATATURK" (the code IST was transferred several years ago to the new airport) and another trip to Sao Paulo Guarulhos was referred to as "Guarulhos" on paperwork, but just "Sao Paulo" on announcements and screens at Heathrow.

So that leads me onto my question, why does the aviation industry insist on using multiple names for the same airport? Is this commonplace in the railway industry anywhere?

As to the railway equivalent - there will inevitably be a difference in (in)official usage between local and long-distance travel. If I’m a visitor going “to London”, I’ll be wanting to know whether my train goes “to London”; a local Will want to know if it’s going to Victoria or Charing Cross

 

[Mag_seven]

I'm always intrigued why in Germany most airports are naturally called "XXX Flughafen" but for some unknown reason the airport in Hamburg is not called "Hamburg Flughafen" but "Hamburg Airport".

 

[The exile]

I'm always intrigued why in Germany most airports are naturally called "XXX Flughafen" but for some unknown reason the airport in Hamburg is not called "Hamburg Flughafen" but "Hamburg Airport".

“Denglisch” rules, DE! Germans have been making fun of DBAG’s obsession with English for years!

 

[XAM2175]

I've noticed this a few other times recently too. Last summer when checking in for a flight to Istanbul, the British Airways automated check in terminals referred to Istanbul Airport as "ATATURK" (the code IST was transferred several years ago to the new airport) and another trip to Sao Paulo Guarulhos was referred to as "Guarulhos" on paperwork, but just "Sao Paulo" on announcements and screens at Heathrow.

Not really multiple names, per se, but more different portions of the same name - although the Ataturk thing is compounded by the IST code being transferred. As @The exile says, it's almost always meant as disambiguation, but with an assumption that passengers actually know that.

 

[Trainguy34]

Basel in France /Switzerland - 2 codes, 2 names, 1 airport

 

[zwk500]

Basel in France /Switzerland - 2 codes, 2 names, 1 airport

Isn't this for customs rules, because (like Geneva) you can exit direct to France and stay within the Schengen zone and the EU, which Switzerland is not part of.

 

[Gaelan]

Isn't this for customs rules, because (like Geneva) you can exit direct to France and stay within the Schengen zone and the EU, which Switzerland is not part of.

Switzerland, along with Iceland and Norway, are in Schengen despite not being in the EU.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 28 May 2023 ==

Not sure what the customs implications are, though - I suspect it's a situation where there are customs rules but no border formalities.

 

[zwk500]

Switzerland, along with Iceland and Norway, are in Schengen despite not being in the EU.

My mistake - I thought Switzerland was technically outside.

Not sure what the customs implications are, though - I suspect it's a situation where there are customs rules but no border formalities.

Switzerland is in EFTA, so I suspect any checks are random spot-checks.

 

[johncrossley]

Before Manchester became a major airport it was commonly referred to as "Ringway". Similarly Liverpool airport was known as "Speke".

Most of the biggest stations in Ireland are named after people from the Easter Rising. In Dublin it enables you to distinguish between Heuston and Connolly, but even in Cork you have Kent station even though there is only one station in the city centre.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 28 May 2023 ==

Switzerland is in EFTA, so I suspect any checks are random spot-checks.

Switzerland is not in the customs union so there are duties to be paid on most imports, even those from the EU, unless they are for personal use and below the exemption limit. If you buy a new iPhone in France and you are going home to Switzerland then tax needs to be paid.

 

[etr221]

Basel-Mulhouse airport was built as an bi-national airport, under a Franco-Swiss agreement, with essentially two terminals - French, exiting to the French road system, and Swiss, with a fenced off 'corridor' road from the airport (physically in France) to Switzerland proper: the French terminal was 'Mulhouse' and the Swiss 'Basel' - for flights to/from third countries you chose the appropriate terminal (and hence frontier formalities), for flights to/from elsewhere in France it was effectively either an internal flight to Mulhouse (with no frontier formalities), or an international flight to Basel - with French controls between plane and the Swiss Basel terminal - depending on your ticket.

Quite what the different frontier formalities mean and involve these days I don't know...

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

The Americans will persist in calling an airport by the personalised branded name, which is usually the local politician who got it built, or a famous resident.
So you get them referring to "Ronald Reagan" instead of Washington National.
In places like JFK and CDG it's in the airport code so you can't avoid it.
They also tend to use the original name for the airfield eg Love Field in Dallas.

We tend not to name airports after people here, the glaring exception being Liverpool's John Lennon airport.
The older local names for airports seem to be deprecated now, such as Ringway, Speke and Elmdon for Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham, though many locals still use them.
On the other hand, Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted are just that, the original airfield names.

 

[BananaRepublic]

......On the other hand, Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted are just that, the original airfield names.

Heathrow was originally, officially known as and normally referred to as "London Airport" (LAP).
I believe the name changed to London Heathrow Airport in 1961.
The abbreviation LAP was often used right through into the 1970's, for example the name of an aviation enthusiasts shop, a spotters society, London Transport etc.
As young chaps, we used to go to the staff LAPwing club, to see if we could chat up some young "hosties", but we never managed to.
The radio callsigns for Heathrow various r/t frequencies, were all "London" until at least the early 1970's (IIRC?).


z

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 30 May 2023 ==

New York's JFK was originally known as Idlewild Airport (the official name became New York International Airport in the late 1940's) and known by everyone as Idlewild, prior to being renamed in honour of the late JFK, a month or two after his death.

Southampton Airport was known as Southampton Eastleigh Airport until around the 1970's. Hardly anyone knows or remembers that these days.

 

[johncrossley]

I believe the name changed to London Heathrow Airport in 1961.

Was that to distinguish itself from Gatwick?

 

[SargeNpton]

We tend not to name airports after people here, the glaring exception being Liverpool's John Lennon airport.
The older local names for airports seem to be deprecated now, such as Ringway, Speke and Elmdon for Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham, though many locals still use them.
On the other hand, Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted are just that, the original airfield names.

And George Best in Belfast.

 

[BananaRepublic]

Was that to distinguish itself from Gatwick?

Yes.
Gatwick was officially designated as London’s 2nd airport and renamed London Gatwick, at the same time as London Airport was renamed, London Heathrow.

Funny in respect of the fact that London was served by 6 airports with commercial services in the 1950’s
Luton, Bovingdon, Blackbushe, Croydon (it’s final dwindling years), Northolt and London Airport (i.e. Heathrow).


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[LNW-GW Joint]

Yes.
Gatwick was officially designated as London’s 2nd airport and renamed London Gatwick, at the same time as London Airport was renamed, London Heathrow.

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Part of that was the common ownership by the British Airports Authority - BAA - who needed a consistent branding for to their property.
All that's gone now that they are in separate ownership, Heathrow by Ferrovial (consortium), Gatwick with GIP (consortium) and Stansted with MAG (Manchester Airports Group).
It's interesting that some of the investors in UK airports are also investors in HS1.
HS2 was supposed to go the same way at one time, but it looks like staying in government hands, at least until it is "finished" in some way.

 

[AlterEgo]

And George Best in Belfast.

A perfect name for Belfast’s airport. Like the city, massive potential, damaged by decades of self harm!

 

[BananaRepublic]

Part of that was the common ownership by the British Airports Authority - BAA - who needed a consistent branding for to their property.

Sorry, that’s wrong.
The BAA was formed in 1965, 4 years after London Airport and Gatwick were renamed.


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[nw1]

Southampton Airport was known as Southampton Eastleigh Airport until around the 1970's. Hardly anyone knows or remembers that these days.

I've heard people refer to it as "Eastleigh Airport" recently, in the past 30 years or so. It's never been its official name during this time though. I guess it's technically correct as it is within the Borough of Eastleigh.
I guess they were people who lived in the area in the 70s though.

 

[zwk500]

I've heard people refer to it as "Eastleigh Airport" recently, in the past 30 years or so. It's never been its official name during this time though. I guess it's technically correct as it is within the Borough of Eastleigh.
I guess they were people who lived in the area in the 70s though.

I think it's also regularly referred to as Eastleigh, or being in Eastleigh, in a lot of literature about the Supermarine Aircraft company, especially the Spitfire.