Manassas City Council seeks community input on possible airport name change – WTOP News

Manassas Regional Airport is in the process of considering a new name planned for Spring 2027 — and the community is being asked for their input.

Councilmembers had planned to choose a new name during a city council meeting on March 18, but the effort was halted when multiple council members cited concerns that community members haven’t had enough opportunity to weigh in on the decision.

As things stand now, the council is weighing two potential names presented by the airport commission: Manassas Regional Airport and Washington Manassas Airport.

A third option offered originally, Washington Manassas National Airport, has since been dropped from consideration due to its similarity to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

“After further research and discussion, we found that the city attorney had some concerns with the use of the word ‘national’ because there were some trademark implications there. We also got feedback from the FAA who also indicated that the use of the word ‘national’ could cause some confusion in the regional,” Airport Director Juan Rivera said.

Although the airport commission held a public work session in January where the name change was discussed, council members said the meeting was not properly advertised to the community as a discussion on the name change.

“I would like a chance for our residents to sound in not at a public hearing necessarily, maybe at a survey,” Councilmember Tom Osina said. “We all live here, we all have our vested interest in our community and these kinds of things.”

The council, along with the airport commission, agreed to put out a survey collecting public input and accept comments at a town hall scheduled for March 25th. The council will formally consider the proposed name change at a meeting on April 13th.

The airport’s logo and branding would remain the same regardless of a name change. Rivera estimated the cost to change monument signs at and around the airport would come out to around $500,000, something he says would be covered by the airport’s fund.

Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.

Source link