Facebook and Instagram may have been down on Monday, but Twitter was there for airports to share news and fun tidbits. Here are some items that caught our attention.
Please get with the program so you can travel safely. Many airports around the country make it easy to get the jab.
We are totally loving Alaska Airline’s newly decorated Pride-inspired plane supporting the LGBTQ+ community. It’s the first of its kind in the United States and will be flying throughout the airline’s network for the next year.
It’s official. T.F. Green Airport in Providence, Rhode Island is now Rhode Island T.F. Green International Airport (PVD).
Why did they make the change?
“Of the 376 primary mainland airports in the country as defined by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) only 32, including T. F. Green Airport, did not have the city, region or state in its name,” the airport explains in a statement. And adding the geographical identifier “will better position Rhode Islandâs main airport to support the stateâs economy and tourism sector.”
Since 1968, the airport in Las Vegas has been named for Nevada’s late U.S. senator, Pat McCarran. He helped get the airport built, but left a legacy of racism and anti-Semitism. But earlier this year, Clark County commissioners in Nevada voted to change the name of the airport to Harry Reid International Airport, to honor the man who served as a Democratic senator from Nevada from 1987 to 2017.
The name change isn’t quite official with the FAA just yet. But it looks like it is a pretty darn close because the name change is already being reflected on FAA charts.
Indianapolis International Airport (IND), which opened in 2008 with $4 million in permanent art, now has an art gallery.
Called the KIND Gallery after the airportâs international airport code, the new gallery will feature rotating temporary art exhibits curated and coordinated in partnership with the Arts Council of Indianapolis.
The first gallery show is titled âPareidolia.” The term refers to “the tendency to perceive a specific, often meaningful image in a random or ambiguous visual pattern” and each artist in the show used clouds as their prompt to set their creativity into motion.
We hope your day is filled with flights of fancy. And, of course, chocolate and flowers.
Sadly, this is the first Valentine’s Day in 10 years that Jacksonville International Airport (JAX) won’t have its ambassadors out in the terminal giving carnations to traveling lovebirds.
“Our ambassador program is currently suspended but we hope to get them back soon. Â There is hope for Motherâs Day,” says airport spokesman Bryan Long.
And this year concerns about COVID-19 meant there was no marriage license pop-up desk at McCarran International Airport (LAS) in Las Vegas.
The culprit? COVID-19.
But many airports did celebrate Valentine’s Day in their own way.
If we missed your airport, let us know and we’ll add them to the list.
A few weeks back we celebrated Mask Monday with some fun “Wear your mask” reminders from airports.
Since then, many airports have gotten in touch to show off their branded masks and the creative ways they are reminding travelers to mask up.
Here’s a sampling. Let us know if you have one to add.
Here’s how Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) encourages passengers to mask up.
Here’s a snazzy mask from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL)
This one, from McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, glows in the dark! (You can buy one at Mr. Boxer in the C Concourse)
These are from Reno-Tahoe International Airport (RNO)
This snazzy mask is for sale in the gift shops at Wichita Eisenhower National Airport (ICT)
And the masks below, along with everything else you see pictured, are from Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport (GSP) and are for sale in the GSP online store.
Have an airport-branded mask to show off? Send it along.
Like other airports around the country, Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC) is keeping the facilities clean.
The airport is also using signs and floor stickers to encourage passengers to remember to keep their distance and wear face coverings.
Now, SJC is also getting even more creative with getting those messages out.
The airport has enlisted Santa Cruz-based singer/songwriter artist Nick Gallant to write and record three original songs to remind passengers and employees what they can and should do to keep things safe.
The ditties are catchy.
And you’ll have plenty of time to learn them by heart. Each song is being played throughout the Airportâs terminal buildings once an hour on a 20-minute cycle.
Give a listen:
FlySJC ¡ SJC Go Somewhere Safely
Why play safety songs in an airport?
âBy now our travelers and employees know what they need to do to keep each other safe while traveling,” said SJC Assistant Director of Aviation Judy Ross, “So the challenge for us was to find a unique, engaging way to remind everyone to stay vigilant.”
Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC) isn’t the first to have safety songs to remind passengers to pay attention to the rules.
Way back in 2011, Montana’s Glacier Park International Airport (FCA) was running a video of a local band named The Singing Sons of Beaches to remind passengers of the rules and routines required at the TSA checkpoint.
The “bonus reminders” aren’t always songs.
Over the years McCarran International Airport Airport (LAS) in Las Vegas has enlisted celebrities to create instructional reminder videos as well.