Encourages Travelers To "FLY SUX"

For years, it has been a thorn in the sides of officials with Sioux Gateway Airport in Sioux City, IA. Every time a pilot entered the airport's identifier on a flight plan... every time they'd see a sectional chart... they were reminded as far as the FAA was concerned, Sioux City's airport was, well, SUX.

A few years back, the airport led a charge to change the moniker, in favor of... well, almost anything else. But that was then, this is now -- and today, those same officials have come around to the unique situation before them.

"Let's make the best of it," SUX board member Dave Bernstein tells the Sioux City Journal. "I think we have the opportunity to turn it into a positive."

Bernstein is the brainchild of a tongue-in-cheek marketing campaign that puts Sioux City's identifier front-and-center. The new slogan "FLY SUX" was unveiled last month, to coincide with the launch of Frontier Airlines service to Denver. Northwest Airlines also offers daily flights to its hub at Minneapolis/St. Paul.

"I've got buddies that I went to college with in different cities that can't even remember their own birthdays, but they all know the Sioux City designator -- SUX," Bernstein quips. "As long as they're talking about you, go with it."

Already, T-shirts and caps have popped up, sporting the slogan "FLY SUX." That's also the address for the airport's new website.

As you might expect, the idea has taken off.

"I've had people constantly calling me asking where they can get [a "FLY SUX" T-shirt]," Bernstein said.

"It's a very noticeable thing," added web designer Jeff Nelson, a former Sioux Cityan who designed the new website. "Sure, people have made fun of (SUX) for years. It's kind of a twist of embracing it now."

Even mayor Craig Berenstein -- who described the identifier in 2002 as an "embarrassment" -- has since come around to the idea.

"Not only do I not have a problem with it, but I have one of the T-shirts," the mayor said of the new campaign, adding it's a "cute little way" to poke fun at the situation.

Sioux City's past dissatisfaction with its airport identifier stretches back to the late 1980s. In 1988, city leaders asked the FAA to drop SUX. The agency responded with five new options -- GWU, GYO, GYT, SGV, and GAY.

Officials weren't wild about any of them (you can probably figure out the least-popular choice) and dropped the matter.

FMI: www.flysux.com