India plans to rename all its airports and it makes a lot of sense

Keep it simple, stupid.
 By 
Manish Singh
 on 
India plans to rename all its airports and it makes a lot of sense
Mandatory Credit: Photo by Manish Swarup/AP/REX/Shutterstock (6887939a) A state-run Air India aircraft sits on a tarmac at the Indira Gandhi International airport in New Delhi, India, . A court on Wednesday declared a strike by some Air India pilots as illegal, triggered by unpaid salaries and a dispute on training on flying new generation B-787 Dreamliner aircraft India Pilot Strike, New Delhi, India Credit: Swarup/AP/REX/Shutterstock

Here's a quick challenge: Can you guess the city you would be in if your plane was landing at Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport? How about if it were to land at Rajmata Vijaya Raje Scindia Airport?

There are several airports in India that are named after historical figures or politicians. The airport in New Delhi is named after former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, for instance, whereas the airport in Mumbai is called Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, named after the 16th century ruler of the Maratha empire.

Making sense of some Indian airport names can be really challenging, and has been puzzling hundreds of thousands of people who fly into India everyday. God bless the foreigners who're visiting India.

It appears, the government of India has realized the issue, and is considering making rectifications.

The Indian government is considering a proposal to rename all the existing airports as well as future greenfield airports after the names of their respective cities, Union minister for civil aviation Jayant Sinha told the Indian Express.

The proposal aims to provide, you guessed it, convenience to foreign tourists and passengers who might not be familiar with Indian personalities.

The government is also considering renaming different terminals at the airports after the name of state governors, the paper reported, adding that a set of guidelines on how to carry out the rechristening of the airports will be released soon.

And by the way, the answers to the above challenge are Guwahati (a city in the northeastern state of Assam), and Gwalior (a city in Madhaya Pradesh).

Topics Government

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Manish Singh

Manish Singh was a Mashable's senior correspondent in India. He has previously freelanced with CNET, NDTV Gadgets, BGR India, and MediaNama.

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