Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport OK’D: E.V. Facility’s Name Will Change on Oct. 15

By Donna Hogan, The Tribune, Mesa, Ariz.

Sep. 18–On Oct. 15, Williams Gateway Airport will become Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport.

A crowd of 75 to 80 people packed a meeting room Monday to hear the Williams Gateway Authority, the governing board of the east Mesa airport, unanimously OK the change.

Despite pre-meeting grumbling, no one spoke in opposition to the new name. A few praised the proposal.

“This community has an obsession with the past, and that has cost a lot of money and stopped progress,” said Richard Tracy, 80, of Mesa.

Tracy, who admitted some fellow octogenarians are not always as open to change, said he expects the Phoenix moniker to draw new passengers and new passenger service from around the country.

“It will put Mesa on the map, too,” he said. “I travel a lot, and people do not know where Mesa is. They are going to know where Mesa is because of this airport.”

As part of the name change, the passenger terminal will be dubbed the Charles L. Williams Passenger Terminal, and the park, which is already named after the World War I pilot from southern Arizona, will be expanded to include nearby grassy areas.

The board directed Lynn Kusy, the airport’s executive director, to develop a new logo and branding program by Oct. 15 and allocated up to $90,000 to make it happen.

Signs sporting the new name, minus the logo, have been designed and could be up within about 30 days, said Brian Sexton, airport spokesman.

Airport vehicles, uniforms and correspondence will likely be changed over time, Sexton said.

Kusy said airport staff had visited as many as 25 community groups in the last few weeks to explain why the airport needed a new name.

A national study found that Williams Gateway has great name recognition in the Valley, but it has none nationwide, Kusy said.

Because the airport wants to attract passengers and airlines from around the country, that wasn’t a good selling point for the old name, he said.

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