Singapore's Changi Airport to be renamed Lee Kuan Yew Airport?
By David Flynn, March 29 2015
IN BRIEF | Singapore's Changi Airport could be renamed in honour of the nation's founding father Lee Kuan Yew, whose death last week sparked a week-long period of mourning.
A Change.org petition to Singapore's Transport Minister requesting that Changi Airport become "Lee Kuan Yew (LKY) International Airport" has attracted over 12,000 signatures in the past four days.
The petition seeks to rename Changi to enshrine Lee Kuan Yew's legacy in the same way as do New York's John F. Kennedy and Paris' Charles de Gaulle airports celebrate the accomplishments of those nation's leaders.
Changi is not only considered among the world's best airports, its very creation came at the hand of Lee Kuan Yew.
"Without him, Changi Airport would not exist today" explains an online tribute posted by Changi Airport, which calls Lee 'the pioneer of Singapore aviation.'
"It was Mr Lee who took the difficult decision to move Singapore's international airport from Paya Lebar to Changi despite the recommendations of foreign experts to expand the former.'
"It meant writing off some S$800 million that had already been invested in Paya Lebar and a commitment of S$1.5 billion in the late 1970s to develop the new airport. This was a bold move, but as Mr Lee himself said, 'one of the best $1.5 billion investments we ever made".'
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David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
30 Mar 2015
Total posts 14
LKY put Singapore on the map. It is only fitting that this amazing airport be renamed in his honour. LKY just also happens to be a fantastic airport code!
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
09 Dec 2014
Total posts 25
LKY is already taken, Lake Manyara in Tanzania.
14 Jun 2013
Total posts 352
I think the idea is just that the airport's name changes to include "Lee Kuan Yew" in the name, not that the airport's IATA code changes from SIN to LKY. It might be the same as how Sydney is in fact also named 'Kingsford-Smith' so we would have Singapore Lee Kuan Yew Airport or Singapore Changi 'Lee Kuan Yew Airport.
31 Dec 2013
Total posts 10
The new name, if adopted, would seem a bit too long and crumpsy to pronounce IMO, because 'Singapore' has three syllables while the names of other major cities in the world, like NY and Sydney, have two syllables only. It makes a huge different
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
27 Feb 2015
Total posts 34
He was amazing, don't get me wrong.
Changi sounds better though.
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