What’s in a brand, where an airport is concerned?

Branding has become increasingly important as a field of marketing, and noticeably so in the air transport sector - where airlines are no longer assessed by their 'sexiness', as they were 40 or 50 years ago, but by a host of metrics that collectively identify their 'brand value', 'brand equity' and 'brand sustainability'.

A leading brand valuation and strategy consultancy, Brand Finance, has published an annual report on how branding applies to airlines and airports in 2024.

In the former case the biggest brands by all the metrics are also the biggest airlines with few exceptions.

The same is true of airports, with a noticeable paucity of winners among small airports in the sustainability category, where some of them have actually been the most active. Most of the 'leaders' are from cities that are global powerhouses.

Meanwhile, a spat in California between two neighbouring airports over the selection of a new name for one of them demonstrates how, at the end of the day, an airport's name can be its most important feature and benefit of all.