Not Franz Kafka, more’s the pity.
From today, it’s Vaclav Havel Airport. And good for him.
Is there another interntional airport in the world that is named after a man or woman of letters?
Prague renames its airport for a writer
October 5, 2012 by
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Beautiful!
THere is this one in Lyon named Lyon-Saint Exupéry Airport after the writer of “LE Petit Prince”.
There’s Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow, named not after an author per se, but after a Russian noble family, Sheremetev, whose members included artists, important patrons of the arts, and progressive thinkers.
And in Baltimore, there’s Thurgood Marshall International Airport, named after a US Supreme Court justice – not an author per se, but certainly an intellectual.
Tom Jobim International Airport, in Rio.
What about these ones:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyon-Saint_Exup%C3%A9ry_Airport
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liverpool_John_Lennon_Airport
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Chopin_Airport
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salzburg_Airport (W.A. Mozart)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venice_Marco_Polo_Airport
And I’ve only checked the Wikipedia list for Europe.
lovely… Only one real writer, though (St-Exp). More, please.
Well, Marco Polo was a more or less real writer, too, wasn’t he?
But it’s a shame indeed that we have no such airport in our self proclaimed Land der Dichter und Denker.
I would say Heathrow be renamed “Franz Kafka” if any airport should.
The very small and beautiful Granada airport is named “Federico García Lorca”!
wonderful! thanks, Pablo.
Brescia Airport ‘Gabriele d’Anunzio’ in Italy fits the requirement.
you bet! Is there a Dante airport? ‘Abandon hope all ye who enter…’ Maybe Heathrow.
Valerio Catullo airport in Verona ( Latin Poet )
Benissimo!
Well, John Paul II in Krakow and Copernicus in Wroclaw could probably count too. Both were prolific writers and the first one was a poet too. But I think this one must be the winner
: Wladyslaw Reymont Airport in Lodz – named after a Polish novelist. So far the only one on the list who actually won the Nobel prize in literature!
It seems that composers were indeed more lucky. In Poland alone there are three international airports names after composers (Chopin in Warsaw, Wieniawski in Poznan and Paderewski in Bydgoszcz).
“Is there a Dante airport? ‘Abandon hope all ye who enter…’ ”
The three-letter code for Helsinki-Vantaa is HEL, but as airports go, the place is not that hellish.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lennart_Meri_Tallinn_Airport
Dakar’s Léopold Sédar Senghor Airport. Havel and Senghor were both writers and statesmen.
There was a campaign to rename Glasgow Prestwick as Robert Burns International airport a few years ago which even gained some support in the Scottish Parliament and there still appears to be a facebook page with over 6000 likes.
This new airport promises to be a lot better than the Franz Kafka International Airport, which is described in the following link:
There are many more airports named after presidents or other rulers, or ex-presidents or other ex-rulers.
Again not a writer, but I’m sure you’ll like this one:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo%C5%A1_Jan%C3%A1%C4%8Dek_Airport_Ostrava
I should have said not *primarily* a writer, since LJ did, of course, write hundreds of articles and several books…
With the 50th anniversary of James Bond upon us – how about the Ian Fleming International Airport in Jamaica?
Even better, there’s the Charles M. Schulz – Sonoma County airport. How could you not love an airport which has Snoopy as its logo?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Charles_M._Schulz_-_Sonoma_County_Airport_%28logo%29.png
Most serious writers are pessimists. It might not be a good idea to name airports after them!
St Paul the Apostle Airport, Ohrid, Macedonia
And Kafka was such a great name for an airport, as this video shows:
Of course I’d have preferred Kafka airport… but there was a hurdle. Kafka was never president. I am not convinced the Czechs (whoever was involved in the decision) chose Havel for his writings… Hm, didn’t the Nicaraguans at some point want to name their airport Ruben Dario? Not sure what happened. Then there’s the Jamaican airport, Ian Fleming. And what about the Sonoma County airport – Charles M. Schulz. Verona: Valerio Catullo. My question: other than Warsaw there seems to be a lack of composer- named airports… wonder why…?
It may be a trend in Central Europe. Since March of 2011, the Budapest Airport has been Liszt Ferenc International.
Prague Airport was renamed after former president (and writer) Vaclav Havel
Exactly, in general he was more a president than a writer, and it was meant to name the airport after him in the political, rather than a literary sense.
Many other countries have renamed airports in major cities for people who greatly influenced their history such as John F. Kennedy Airport in New York or Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris.
Heraklion Int. Airport, Greece
Nikos Kazantzakis, from wiki:
Greek writer and philosopher, celebrated for his novel Zorba the Greek, considered his magnum opus. He became known globally after the 1964 release of the Michael Cacoyannis film Zorba the Greek, based on the novel. He gained renewed fame with the 1988 Martin Scorsese adaptation of his book The Last Temptation of Christ.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikos_Kazantzakis
Interesting subject, this. Until recently one used to be able to assert that only one major international airport in the world – serving a capital city – was named after a composer: the Chopin Airport, Warsaw. Now we have the Liszt Airport, Budapest. Isn’t it rather wonderful to see creative genius honoured in this way?
Isn’t it a shame, though, that the Koln-Bonn Airport is not named after Beethoven. Konrad Adenauer was undeniably important to the post-war reconstruction of the Federal Republic of Germany. But if the choice was between Adenauer and Beethoven…well…words fail.
There is the Verdi Airport at Parma. The ‘Aeroporto di Catania-Fontanarossa’ is named after Chopin’s hero, Vincenzo Bellini. But these are relatively little, regional airports.
So, for the time being, Warsaw and Budapest are the shining examples.
As for Heathrow (apart from being the world’s worst airport for disingenuously losing – and then quickly selling – luggage) should it be styled the ‘Shakespeare Airport’? Perhaps that title could be snaffled by Birmingham, as the closer point to Stratford. Heathrow does seem to deserve a name that relates to dystopian literature (Kafka, Orwell/Blair, Huxley, or other such).
Jose Marti Int. Airport, Cuba.
Jose Marti from wiki:
José Julián Martí Pérez (January 28, 1853 – May 19, 1895) was a hero in Cuba and an important figure in Latin American literature. In his short life he was a poet, an essayist, a journalist, a revolutionary philosopher, a translator, a professor, a publisher, and a political theorist.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Mart%C3%AD
Martinique Aimé Césaire International Airport
(French: Aéroport International Martinique Aimé Césaire) (IATA: FDF, ICAO: TFFF) is the international airport of Martinique in the French West Indies. Located in Le Lamentin, a suburb of the capital Fort-de-France, it was opened in 1950 and renamed in 2007 after author and politician
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aim%C3%A9_C%C3%A9saire
Mark Twain Air Park Airport (4MO6) a tiny privately owned facility with 2300 ft. x 100 ft. grass runway located in Louisiana, MO.
http://www.airport-data.com/airport/4MO6/
That’s rather sad. Why not rename Louisiana Airport for Twain? Start a campaign…