BHD to be renamed after George Best

Can’t say I agree with the renaming, not so much because it’s after a footballer or an alocholic, but seems stupid to throw away the rare ‘City’ part of the airport’s name.

Flybe naming a Dash8 is fine and dandy, nothing against naming aircraft at all. Only problem there is when the picture of him starts to fade/peel off, will only look terrible.

If BHD is going to renamed, why not make it after Professor Frank Pantridge, definitely a less controversial character!

Off topic postings not required either – Moggy

That may be but EW initiated it!

ROTFL

Oh how I love messy pprune spillovers…

Don’t you think this

‘My airport is better than your airport’

stuff a little childish?

Moggy

That may be but EW initiated it!

*League of Gentlemen Style* Are you local?

Don’t you think this

‘My airport is better than your airport’

stuff a little childish?

Moggy

True but at BFS we NEVER had terrorists able to break in and actually blow an aircraft up(albeit a disused shed).

The IFTB’S are certainly of consequence to the poor folks who have been on them .I know which aircraft I would rather be a pax on……clue it is made in Seattle!!

Ever try skiing in Aviemore in the summer? that would be why the rotations are down on the INV . Good luck to Air Berlin…hope they never run late 😀

As for calling the airport Danny Blanchflower/Ian Paisley/Gerry Adams or whatever you like the fact remains it will be known as the INTERNATIONAL and consequently THE airport for the ENTIRE PROVINCE(available 24/7/365…no pax caps 😎 )

eastern wiseguy, i think you will actually find BFS isnt as safe as you think it is. Your Arrivals area is open to the public and your screening is not as good at BHD. BHD wont let you even take umbrellas or like but all other UK Airports will. They also prohibit photography airside and have a better police presence hands down compared to BFS due to who travel through there.

There are stories about BFS that I am privvy to that are only known to less than 6 people at BFS and involve terrorism on an international scale. I can confirm BFS is the airport of choice for terrorists travelling in and out of province…. thats a fact…

Also no matter the name for City it IS reguarded as THE airport for Northern Ireland whilst Aldergrove is viewed as the secondary airport with locos and charter carriers. Can you go from car to plane in 5 minutes at BFS? I think not and Mark L is living proof you can do that at BHD!!

I do like both airports equally but BHD has an edge over BFS given location etc. I mean come on 30mins after leaving City Boundary you come to the International. People know the name Belfast more than Nutts Corner/Antrim/Crumlin (people outside of NI) so Belfast was choosen.

There is NO demand for 24hr flights at BHD nor BFS. You are open for freight 24/7 due to location, its not like there are lots of scheduled flights in the wee hours. BHD will loose the pax cap there are ways to do it but they want to keep local community onside.

security at BFS is as tight as ever

True but at BFS we NEVER had terrorists able to break in and actually blow an aircraft up(albeit a disused shed).

The IFTB’S are certainly of consequence to the poor folks who have been on them .I know which aircraft I would rather be a pax on……clue it is made in Seattle!!

Ever try skiing in Aviemore in the summer? that would be why the rotations are down on the INV . Good luck to Air Berlin…hope they never run late 😀

As for calling the airport Danny Blanchflower/Ian Paisley/Gerry Adams or whatever you like the fact remains it will be known as the INTERNATIONAL and consequently THE airport for the ENTIRE PROVINCE(available 24/7/365…no pax caps 😎 )

So you are happy with the in flight turn backs then? I would have thought you would have denied them lol I never mentioned BFS’s fortunes …which are sound….but pleased to hear from you none the less…now refresh my memory…the passenger cap which you assured me (on pprune) which had been raised……..bollox or what? :rolleyes:

Hi EW, pedantic as always, some things never change! – the in flight turn backs to which you refer are of no consequence to me personally on the subject of which who had a turn back to BFS only a few days ago due to unruly passengers (not the first time!). BTW, if they had decided to name BFS after George Best, what would your reaction have been – lets face it, BFS could do with a name change when you realise its further away from the city it purports to serve than every other similarly sized airport in the UK or Ireland!

On the subject of fortunes, I see the widely heralded link to INV is now down to four times a week – what’s the bets it disappears completely come the winter schedule – the cap at BHD may not have been officially lifted but it has been judged as an inappropriate way to regulate growth there much to the dismay of BFS – mind you, it hasn’t stopped BHD securing AB to STN (bet that stings!!)

Finally, I see security at BFS is as tight as ever – pity it didn’t stop £9000 worth of plasma TVs walking a few weeks back – cheers!!

I’m a traditionalist and I think airports should be named after their location and not individuals.

How many people refer to Liverpool’s airport as John Lennon Airport? Most people just call it Liverpool Airport and always will!

Many Liverpolitans like myself still think of it as ‘Speke’

Named after a famous person.

Moggy

try to boost BFS’s flagging fortunes, beggars belief!!

So you are happy with the in flight turn backs then? I would have thought you would have denied them lol I never mentioned BFS’s fortunes …which are sound….but pleased to hear from you none the less…now refresh my memory…the passenger cap which you assured me (on pprune) which had been raised……..bollox or what? :rolleyes:

My God, no. I would absolutely freak out if MAN was renamed after that clown. Come to think of it, I’m glad BHD got the name, otherwise MAN would have been at the receiving end!

How can you call him a clown , he was the best footballer ever to play in this country.
Yes he liked the booze to much,does that make him a bad person.
I think your comments are due to more of where you come from that the player or the person

Call it whatever you like.. how many people(non football fans ) really know who he was?.I like the idea of one of the Dash 8’s being named after him…considering the inflight turn backs by this marque ,it would appear to suit Mr Best well…rarely where he was needed and temperamental. Belfast International has such a nice ring to it.

Hi Mr McCall ….I’m back :dev2: :dev2:

It’s a pity you chose such a sensitive subject on which to post such sardonic and callous comments – then hijacking the thread just to take a side swipe at Flybe and, at the same time, try to boost BFS’s flagging fortunes, beggars belief!!

I was one of the Snr Stewards at the Funeral and TBH we have about 1 in 10 if that higher proportion of football fans attending. The crowd was 200,000 and 10,000 of those were from outside of UK and not all football fans.

This decision by BHD is PR related to gain local community support for expansion. Community wouldnt want to be seen to taint a local hero if they refuse expansion would they? Its all behind scenes stuff….. That NI for u

Call it whatever you like.. how many people(non football fans ) really know who he was?.I like the idea of one of the Dash 8’s being named after him…considering the inflight turn backs by this marque ,it would appear to suit Mr Best well…rarely where he was needed and temperamental. Belfast International has such a nice ring to it.

Hi Mr McCall ….I’m back :dev2: :dev2:

No, the poll was on UTV Live actually, and it was just that – a poll, not a census. Not everyone voted or had to vote, it was purely a vox pop, which I’m sure extended way beyond east Belfast in general and the Short Strand in particular …..

Dee747,

I assume you refer to the poll ran by BBC Newsline? 4500 is the rough population of Short Strand! Hardly a drop in the lagan and i dont think a fair cross section of community…

After speaking to a few people im starting to get impression this move is to try and ease tensions between residents and the airport so the airport has some PR leverage to push ideas more. All for that as residents are being stupid to think that the noise will be worse if aircraft can use less take off power. I spoke to Reg Empy who said that views from myself AND a Belfast based flybe pilot were invalid!!! Im gate crashing planning meetings with as many people as i can muster as its too political!

Maybe not, it was just quite easy for me to link Flybe’s recent Best dedication and their hub operation in BHD :D.

As someone born and bred in east Belfast, within kerosene-smell of what is now City airport, in the days when it was still the naval yard and Shorts Belfasts were being built across Victoria Park from my house, and old enough to remember going to watch George play for United and Northern Ireland back in the very early ’70s, I think this is an excellent way of commemorating George’s talent as a footballer and ambassador for Northern Ireland sport.

It’s all too easy to everyone to lambast his waste of life, his alcoholism and the other aspects of his life he would rather have pushed to the back of his mind. And of course there aren’t too many people in the world who are whiter than white, but we remember him for his footballing brilliance, his immense talent and the fact he made this little corner of the world proud, at a time when we were experiencing trouble and discrimination many of you younger forumites can’t even begin to imagine (or probably remember either).

A local TV poll tonight gave it a 72% approval from some 4500 people who called in over the hour-long period of the programme. I would say that’s probably a fair reflection of province-wide opinion. Personally I feel it was always going to be difficult to get the “right” name once the decision had been made to do it. BHD suffers from two problems – one common with all airports, i.e. you really need to include the name of the locality it serves – in this case Belfast; and the other being the need for BHD to differentiate itself from BFS. Hence any name was going to need to include the words ‘Belfast’ ‘George Best’ and ‘City’. Not much scope really for too many variations on that, so far as I can see.

I wish it well, and while being a local, I’ll probably still refer to it as the City (or frequently as I do ‘the Harbour’). A great tribute to George, and one I suspect he himself might well have approved of.

FuturePilot flybe naming a jet after George had absolutely nothing to do with this decison. The Best family have been in discussions with a number of parties interested in remembering George since his death.