Fly SUX: Sioux City embraces its snicker-inducing airport ID code
http://travel.latimes.com/articles/la-tr-airportco [2008-7-4]
Tag : Candy Packer
Sioux City, Iowa
THE good people of Sioux City, Iowa, just don't get any respect.
For more than a century, the city was best known for an omnipresentsmell, an unpleasant byproduct of the massive stockyards that drovethe local economy. Meat packers would tell their children, "That'sthe smell of money."
David Letterman used to joke about the town, back in the days when the local CBS television station was not carrying "The Late Show." Lettermanwould introduce his Top 10 list, saying it had just arrived "fromthe home office in Sioux City, Iowa."
And then there was -- and still is -- the Sioux Gateway Airport'signominious three-letter identifying code: SUX. For decades, cityfathers have moaned about the label. In 2002, the mayor labeled it"an embarrassment."
Dave Bernstein has heard all the jokes during his 42 years in SiouxCity. But, unlike some other residents, he has taken to heart theold adage about what to do when life hands you lemons. He's makingT-shirts -- emblazoned with two words: "Fly SUX."
The Sioux Gateway Airport certainly isn't the only airport in theworld with a giggle-prompting code. There's Fresno 's: FAT. The airport code in Perm, Russia, is PEE. And then there's Japan 's third-busiest airport, in the city of Fukuoka. Many a travelermust snicker as his or her luggage is tagged for. . . . (We'llleave it at Fukuoka.)
Cracking the codes
Two-letter airport codes -- such as LA for Los Angeles and PH for Phoenix -- were the norm until the increasing number of airports andlanding strips necessitated three-letter codes in the 1930s. Formany existing airports, an "X" was simply added, creating, forexample, LAX and PHX.
Other codes are more obscure. Chicago 's O'Hare Airport got ORD because it sits on the site of a former farming communityknown as Orchard Place.
New Orleans' airport is located, coincidentally, on the land onwhich pioneer aviator John Moisant died in a plane crash in 1910.When the property -- then a plantation -- was sold to a livestockdealer, it was renamed in honor of the pilot: Moisant Stock Yards;hence the code MSY.
And St. Petersburg-Clearwater (Fla.) International Airport isn'tfamous for its lemon meringue pies, even though its code is PIE.It's on the site of the former Pinellas Army Airfield.
As in Sioux City, the folks in St. Pete have embraced their code;the airport's website is www.fly2pie.com .
After more than 50 years being the butt of jokes, Sioux Cityofficials in 1988 appealed to the Federal Aviation Administrationto change the airport's moniker. The FAA offered them GAY, as inSioux Gateway Airport. "Thanks but no thanks," the local leaderstold the bureaucrats in Washington.
Fast forward 20 years, walk into the gift shop at Sioux GatewayAirport, and witness a complete about-face: You'll see T-shirts,baseball caps and other merchandise displaying the "Fly SUX" logo.
"It's 'S-U-X,' " says Bernstein, enunciating the letters one byone. The T-shirts were his idea.
Last fall, Bernstein -- who's an airport board member -- had abouta dozen T-shirts printed to give to travel agents at anappreciation dinner. As word of his marketing ploy spread, he wasdeluged with requests for the shirts.
The president of Northwest Airlines -- in Sioux City to visit hiscompany's new call center -- was among the first to ask for some.Since then, the line of Fly SUX merchandise has soared and nowincludes coffee mugs, luggage tags and bumper stickers.
"We got stuck with this SUX thing, so we're going to embrace it,make it something that we can all laugh about," Bernstein says.
"We have always believed, 'Why fight it? Why not have fun with it?'" adds Luanne Lindblade, the owner of Sioux City Gifts, the companythat markets the Fly SUX items. "Let's exploit it rather than letit bother us."
With Lindblade's help, Bernstein created the logo and the T-shirtswithout consulting his fellow airport board members or the citycouncil. He feared someone would say, "No."
While he was at it, he also changed the airport's official websiteto FlySUX.com, again without seeking permission. To be sure, it wasunorthodox, but no one is arguing with Bernstein's obvious success.
The number of people choosing to fly into and out of SUX is nearlydouble what is was one year ago. That is due, in no small part, to Frontier Airlines ' decision to add service last fall. But part of the credit may goto the "Fly SUX" campaign.
Courting fame
"It's raised awareness as far as our airport is concerned," saysRick McElroy, the airport manager. "People are taking a second lookat Sioux City rather than taking off from the airport to the southor the airport to the north" -- references to his competitors. "Iwill not say their names," he adds with a chuckle.
"I think it's a great thing for tourism, both short- and long-term.It's just one more interesting way to draw attention to ourcommunity," says Erika Newton, a manager with the Sioux CityConvention and Visitors Bureau and a promoter of local attractionssuch as the restored Orpheum Theatre and the Palmer Candy Co.museum and store, home to the Twin Bing candy bar for the last 85years.
"It was kind of logical, in a weird, self-deprecating way,"Bernstein concludes. "It's taken off way beyond, obviously, whatanybody thought it would."
travel@latimes.com
Sioux City, Iowa
THE good people of Sioux City, Iowa, just don't get any respect.
For more than a century, the city was best known for an omnipresentsmell, an unpleasant byproduct of the massive stockyards that drovethe local economy. Meat packers would tell their children, "That'sthe smell of money."
David Letterman used to joke about the town, back in the days when the local CBS television station was not carrying "The Late Show." Lettermanwould introduce his Top 10 list, saying it had just arrived "fromthe home office in Sioux City, Iowa."
And then there was -- and still is -- the Sioux Gateway Airport'signominious three-letter identifying code: SUX. For decades, cityfathers have moaned about the label. In 2002, the mayor labeled it"an embarrassment."
Dave Bernstein has heard all the jokes during his 42 years in SiouxCity. But, unlike some other residents, he has taken to heart theold adage about what to do when life hands you lemons. He's makingT-shirts -- emblazoned with two words: "Fly SUX."
The Sioux Gateway Airport certainly isn't the only airport in theworld with a giggle-prompting code. There's Fresno 's: FAT. The airport code in Perm, Russia, is PEE. And then there's Japan 's third-busiest airport, in the city of Fukuoka. Many a travelermust snicker as his or her luggage is tagged for. . . . (We'llleave it at Fukuoka.)
Cracking the codes
Two-letter airport codes -- such as LA for Los Angeles and PH for Phoenix -- were the norm until the increasing number of airports andlanding strips necessitated three-letter codes in the 1930s. Formany existing airports, an "X" was simply added, creating, forexample, LAX and PHX.
Other codes are more obscure. Chicago 's O'Hare Airport got ORD because it sits on the site of a former farming communityknown as Orchard Place.
New Orleans' airport is located, coincidentally, on the land onwhich pioneer aviator John Moisant died in a plane crash in 1910.When the property -- then a plantation -- was sold to a livestockdealer, it was renamed in honor of the pilot: Moisant Stock Yards;hence the code MSY.
And St. Petersburg-Clearwater (Fla.) International Airport isn'tfamous for its lemon meringue pies, even though its code is PIE.It's on the site of the former Pinellas Army Airfield.
As in Sioux City, the folks in St. Pete have embraced their code;the airport's website is www.fly2pie.com .
After more than 50 years being the butt of jokes, Sioux Cityofficials in 1988 appealed to the Federal Aviation Administrationto change the airport's moniker. The FAA offered them GAY, as inSioux Gateway Airport. "Thanks but no thanks," the local leaderstold the bureaucrats in Washington.
Fast forward 20 years, walk into the gift shop at Sioux GatewayAirport, and witness a complete about-face: You'll see T-shirts,baseball caps and other merchandise displaying the "Fly SUX" logo.
"It's 'S-U-X,' " says Bernstein, enunciating the letters one byone. The T-shirts were his idea.
Last fall, Bernstein -- who's an airport board member -- had abouta dozen T-shirts printed to give to travel agents at anappreciation dinner. As word of his marketing ploy spread, he wasdeluged with requests for the shirts.
The president of Northwest Airlines -- in Sioux City to visit hiscompany's new call center -- was among the first to ask for some.Since then, the line of Fly SUX merchandise has soared and nowincludes coffee mugs, luggage tags and bumper stickers.
"We got stuck with this SUX thing, so we're going to embrace it,make it something that we can all laugh about," Bernstein says.
"We have always believed, 'Why fight it? Why not have fun with it?'" adds Luanne Lindblade, the owner of Sioux City Gifts, the companythat markets the Fly SUX items. "Let's exploit it rather than letit bother us."
With Lindblade's help, Bernstein created the logo and the T-shirtswithout consulting his fellow airport board members or the citycouncil. He feared someone would say, "No."
While he was at it, he also changed the airport's official websiteto FlySUX.com, again without seeking permission. To be sure, it wasunorthodox, but no one is arguing with Bernstein's obvious success.
The number of people choosing to fly into and out of SUX is nearlydouble what is was one year ago. That is due, in no small part, to Frontier Airlines ' decision to add service last fall. But part of the credit may goto the "Fly SUX" campaign.
Courting fame
"It's raised awareness as far as our airport is concerned," saysRick McElroy, the airport manager. "People are taking a second lookat Sioux City rather than taking off from the airport to the southor the airport to the north" -- references to his competitors. "Iwill not say their names," he adds with a chuckle.
"I think it's a great thing for tourism, both short- and long-term.It's just one more interesting way to draw attention to ourcommunity," says Erika Newton, a manager with the Sioux CityConvention and Visitors Bureau and a promoter of local attractionssuch as the restored Orpheum Theatre and the Palmer Candy Co.museum and store, home to the Twin Bing candy bar for the last 85years.
"It was kind of logical, in a weird, self-deprecating way,"Bernstein concludes. "It's taken off way beyond, obviously, whatanybody thought it would."
travel@latimes.com
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