Monday, October 29, 2007

Flying SUX

There's a marketing bonanza in hidden places, as the Sioux (Iowa) Gateway Airport recently discovered. The city really didn't like its FAA moniker SUX, but finally decided to embrace it -- with gusto. "Now the whole world knows about us," says airport direct Rick McElroy.

From USA TODAY's Airport Check-in column: "Airport director Rick McElroy says news reports about the airport's new marketing campaign are no hoax. For years, local officials asked the Federal Aviation Administration to change the airport's SUX three-letter airport identifier to something less, well, embarrassing. Now the airport is celebrating its code with a brash new slogan, 'Fly SUX,' as well as a new website (flysux.com) and a line of Fly SUX-printed T-shirts and caps. ....

"In a story from last week, the Sioux City Journal notes that the airport's move to embrace its unique identifying code comes after officials there previously "doggedly fought" to dump the code. The paper writes "in 1988, Sioux City officials, enlisting the assistance of its congressional delegation, petitioned the Federal Aviation Administration to drop SUX. At one point, the FAA offered the city five different options -- GWU, GYO, GYT, SGV and GAY. Not wild about any of the other choices -- particularly the latter -- airport trustees eventually called the whole thing off."

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