Don’t call it Monterey Peninsula Airport anymore. The airport will now be known as Monterey Regional Airport, district directors decided unanimously on Wednesday.
“It’s a rebranding,” said Bill Sabo, an airport director.
The airport serves all of Monterey County and parts of neighboring counties, Sabo said.
“It’s not just the Monterey Peninsula,” he said.
Calling it the Peninsula airport “is too limiting” said Mary Ann Leffel, an airport director. The new name, she said, is “a significant start” to let passengers and potential passengers know about the airport.
Leffel said she often talks to local residents who don’t know how much commercial air service there is from the airport. There are flights serving San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Denver.
People aren’t always aware that some prices out of Monterey are less expensive than from Bay Area airports, Sabo said.
“The last three flights I’ve taken, the ticket price has been less” from Monterey, Sabo said.
There were discussions over the years about naming the airport after a person, Leffel said, but changes were never adopted.
The more expensive aspects of the name change, such as replacing signs, will be made as money is available. For now, the signs with the old name will stay, and things like the website and stationery will change.
The airport’s code will remain MRY.
The airport is located on about 500 acres north of the Monterey-Salinas Highway and west of Canyon Del Rey Boulevard.
