A recommendation by the Airport Commission to add "Boston" to the name of Worcester Regional Airport certainly makes sense from a marketing point of view, although the value of throwing "Metrowest" into the mix - producing the unwieldy moniker, "Worcester-Metrowest-Boston Airport" - is debatable.
A name change was among the recommendations in the report by airport consultant IMG Inc. The idea was to signal Worcester's proximity to the Massachusetts' capital city, just 40 miles away, to travelers, travel agents and the airline industry itself. (Last month, Manchester Airport in New Hampshire, some 60 miles from Boston, changed its name to Manchester-Boston Regional Airport for the same reason.)
Adding Boston to the name would mean the Worcester airport would pop up on computer searches by people traveling to the region. For some travelers to destinations west of Boston, Worcester would be the preferable option. In contrast, it is unlikely travelers or travel agents outside the state would search for "Metrowest" as a destination.
The change would pick up on a trend by second-tier airports to attract attention by affiliating themselves with a larger market. The name change also would signal to airlines considering entering the Southern New England market that Worcester's proximity to Boston makes it a potential alternative for air travelers.
As air travel continues to rebound from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the recession that followed, Worcester's airport is positioned to become a full partner in the region's air transportation network. A market-savvy name change would ease the way.
Copyright 2005 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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