The commission that runs Little Rock National Airport will soon decide whether or not to rename the facility after Arkansas’s most famous native, former President Bill Clinton, and his wife, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
At a meeting scheduled for Tuesday, the Little Rock Airport Commission will vote on a resolution to change the airport’s name to Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport. Before being elected President, Bill Clinton served as Governor of Arkansas, and prior to that, was the state’s Attorney General. Hillary Clinton served as Little Rock National Airport’s legal counsel.
According to the Arkansas Times, the idea isn’t new, but may in fact have enough momentum to get done this time, based on the extensive work that’s already been done on the project. Signage for the renamed airport has already been designed and a PR campaign in support of the renaming has already been mapped out. They’ve also already written up a resolution that just needs to be signed once the votes are official.
The signage illustrations included provisions for a future name change to Bill and Hillary Clinton International Airport, in the event Little Rock attracts some international routes.
Among the benefits of renaming touted by the commission’s PR Action Plan:
- The renaming would not incur any significant cost since it would coincide with a major renovation of the airport set for completion in 2013.
- It would closely coincide with new flights between Little Rock and Washington Reagan National would “serve as a unique and symbolic link between two of our nation’s great presidential administrations.”
- The Clinton Presidential Center is Arkansas’s biggest attraction for out-of-state visitors, averaging 300,000 visitors annually since it opened in 2004.
There was no word on whether the airport’s ICAO identifier, KLIT, would also be modified.
