TALLINN, Sep 16, BNS – Travelers headed to the Estonian capital could soon find themselves flying to Lennart Meri Tallinn, as the decision to rename the airport after the late president is due to be announced at the inauguration of the renovated airport on Friday, Postimees said.
Even though the parties involved are refusing to say anything definite, the newspaper has learned that the government and Meri’s relatives have agreed on renaming the airport after Lennart Meri. It would happen on March 29 next year, on Meri’s 80th anniversary.
The announcement will be probably made by Prime Minister Andrus Ansip during the formal opening of the enlarged and renovated airport on Friday.
Discussions on how and in which manner to perpetuate the name of the late presidet have been going on for more than two years now, the paper said.
The manager of the state-owned airport company, Rein Loik, admitted to Postimees that something of the kind was going to happen but declined to offer any details. He said the name of the airport was to be decided about by owners, not managers.
Apart from the universally known John F. Kennedy airport of New York, the other best known airports in the world named after a political leader include Charles de Gaulle in Paris, Kemal Ataturk in Istanbul and Indira Gandhi in Delhi.
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