Stockton airport rebranding grounded
San Francisco concerns postpone vote on airport name change
The decision to rename the Stockton Metropolitan Airport to the San Francisco Stockton Regional Airport has been postponed indefinitely, according to Harry Mavrogenes, the airport’s director who asked the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors to defer their vote that was originally scheduled for Tuesday’s meeting.
“I asked the board for the deferral based on a letter I received from San Francisco Regional Airport’s director. We’re going to have our lawyers take a look at it. We didn’t want to take this to the board with a question like this,” Mavrogenes said.
The letter of which Mavrogenes was speaking came from San Francisco Regional Airport (SFO) Director Ivar Satero, who expressed concerns that the proposed name change could cause confusion for travelers, leading them to mistakenly believe that Stockton and San Francisco are closer than they actually are.
San Francisco is about 80 miles from Stockton and the drive between the two cities takes about 90 minutes.
“The letter from (Rep.) Jackie (Speier) was essentially an offer of an olive branch to work together with (San Francisco Regional Airport) for marketing, so we will probably correspond with them.” HARRY MAVROGENES DIRECTOR, STOCKTON METROPOLITAN AIRPORT
Mavrogenes also received a letter from Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Hillsborough), in which she suggested that the two airports collaborate to find a solution that benefits both parties.
“The letter from Jackie was essentially an offer of an olive branch to work together with SFO for marketing, so we will probably correspond with them,” Mavrogenes said.
San Joaquin County Supervisor Chuck Winn is unsure when a new proposal for a name change will come before the board, although he is confident that all parties involved will explore all of their options.
“There’s no time frame to come back with this yet, but I know that there are other options out there for names. I suspect that when the time is right, they will make a proposal to the board,” Winn said.
In September, the County Aviation Advisory Committee unanimously approved changing the name to attract business, increase awareness of location and promote regionalism.
“It’s a marketing issue. As we look at what’s going on in the airport industry, what we notice is that a lot of smaller airports have adopted their name recognition to a nearby city,” Mavrogenes told the News-Sentinel last week, adding that marketing the airport can be challenging because many travelers don’t know where Stockton is located.
In the past year, the number of passengers going through Stockton Metropolitan Airport have increased from 80,000 to 100,000, Mavrogenes said. In addition to flights to Las Vegas and Phoenix, the airport has added flights to San Diego. The airport is also trying to secure other airlines for service to Los Angeles International Airport.