It’s official: Dolly Parton has an international airport named after her. What other musicians have been honoured the same way?
There aren’t a lot of big airports named after musicians. Let’s start with those names after classical composers:
- Budapest Franz Liszt International Airport (code BUD, renamed as of 2011)
- Donetsk Sergei Prokofiev International Airport (DOK, but I probably wouldn’t want to fly in there right now)
- Leos Janacek Airport, Ostrava, Czech Republic (OSR)
- Giuseppe Verdi Airport, Parma, Italy (PMF)
- Henryk Weiniawski Airport, Poznan, Poland (POZ)
- Wolfgang A. Mozart International Airport, Salzburg, Austria (SZG)
- Frederic Chopin International Airport, Warsaw, Poland (WAW, renamed in 2001)
As for non-classical musicians, we have:
- Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans (MSY, renamed in 2001)C
- Cesaria Evora International Airport in Mindelo, Cape Verde Islands (VXE, renamed in 2012 after a popular local singer)
- Liverpool John Lennon International Airport (LPL, renamed in 2002; when he was young, he actually worked there for a time.)
- Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. He was famous modern pianist. It’s code is GIG, which is pretty appropriate for an airfield names after a musician.
- Astor Piazzolla International Airport in Mar Del Plata, Argentina (MDQ, renamed in 2008 after a famous tango composer)
There was a petition to name Birmingham International Airport after Ozzy Osbourne, but nothing has happened. Yet. (Jeezus, the guy wrote a hit called “Flying High Again.”) It remains known as BHX
However, it took less than a month for the international airport in Nashville turn into Dolly Parton International (or another name TBA). Here’s the full story on that--and it has much more to do with music.
The current code for the airport will most likely remain BNA. And no, it won’t be changed to DDD because that code already belongs to Dhaalu, a tiny airport in the Maldives. Damn. Seems like a lost opportunity.
HOWEVER, BNA is adding a US$1.4 billion Concourse D, so…
