What’s the main reason for naming a building, creating a statue or using a person’s image? Aside from a show of power in certain cases, it is to honor that person for their contribution to society. They remain visible, thought about, talked about and, best case, are emulated. Representation is motivation – if you can see that someone has carved a path, you may be more inclined to follow it. Even more so, if you can see yourself in that person. Yet, how often are these buildings/objects named after women, despite women being behind so many of the things that are part of our daily life? The fact that you’re reading this online, for example, is largely thanks to Hedy Lamarr (1914–2000) who pioneered a frequency‑hopping spread‑spectrum technique that underpins modern Wi‑Fi, Bluetooth and GPS, prevalent in entertainment, defense and digital connectivity. Familiar name? Where have you seen it?
Whereas, these days, one particular individual appears desperate to have his name adorn every landmark going (including a different international airport, earlier this summer), evocative of an animal feeling the urge to mark its territory, there is one suggested airport renaming that I am wholly in favor of: that of Nashville International Airport being named after Dolly Parton.
The petition to rename Nashville International Airport was actually launched during Dolly’s lifetime, by two Tennessee fans on 21JAN25. At the time, comedian, Lydia Popvich, and comedy producer, Dan Dion, stated: “As proud citizens of Tennessee, we are motivated by our deep-rooted admiration for the national treasure and Tennessee legend, Dolly Parton. She is not only a celebrated artist who encourages love, acceptance, and goodwill through her music, but also a philanthropist, known for her countless contributions to society. It is only fitting that an institution as significant as Nashville International Airport carries the name of such a remarkable woman.”
Petition gains traction
By APR25, the petition had already surpassed 50,000 signatures. In typical humorous fashion, Dolly, hearing of the petition, told the Tennessean: “I think that’s probably more of a joke than anything. I mean, it does sound like a lot of fun to say: ‘Your flight is departin’ from Nashville’s D Parton.’” When she sadly passed away on 25AUG26, the petition’s signatures rocketed from around 53,000 to well over 100,000 within days, and by 11SEP26, Nashville’s mayor, Tennessee’s governor, and the airport’s board of governors voted unanimously to go ahead with the name change in her honor. A statement issued by the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority explained that: “While a final name has not yet been determined, we are working closely with the appropriate parties to thoughtfully determine how Dolly Parton’s name and legacy will be incorporated”.
The first major airport in the U.S. to be named after a woman
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee said: “Dolly Parton’s extraordinary life is forever woven into the fabric of our state. From her rural mountain home in East Tennessee to global stages, Dolly carried the Volunteer Spirit with her. At a place where Tennessee welcomes the world, it is fitting that Nashville International Airport would bear the name of our state’s favorite daughter and greet travelers with the enduring legacy of Dolly’s music, generosity, faith, and kindness.”
Nashville will then be the first major airport in the U.S. to be named after a woman (there are two regional ones, already). If you were to hazard a guess as to how many airports across the world honor a female person, what would it be? Netflights carried out an analysis in 2020, and found that just 16 out of the 352 global airports on its list, were named after women – and of those, one woman was sharing the honor with her husband: ‘Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport’ in Little Rock, Arkansas. So, 15-and-half*, really. Which translates into just 4.3% of airports. Single digits. And unfortunately, single digits are not uncommon within aviation and related fields, when it comes to female representation.
Single digits in key areas
If you take a look around the aviation industry, air traffic control stands out with a 21.1% share of women in ATC. Otherwise, you will find that just 4.7% of pilots across the globe are women (India at 15% and South Africa, 13%, are the only countries in double-digits, in this case), only 3.1% of aircraft maintenance engineers are women, and just 9% of CEOs at IATA member airlines are female. The latter statistic is up from 3%, however, according to IATA’s 25by2025 initiative, which was launched in 2019 to increase female representation by 25% or to a minimum of 25% in participating companies. IATA itself just recently appointed its first female Director General in its 81-year history: Saadia Zahidi. Though women make up roughly 40% of overall aviation employees, they are a clear minority in the historically male-dominated domains already mentioned. Within cargo, fewer than 15% work in core cargo operations such as ramp, cargo handling, or trucking.
Building the pipeline
Visibility, exposure and recognition are vital to getting more women into the different fields of the aviation industry. One initiative that is gaining traction, is the Women in Aviation International’s annual Girls in Aviation Day. The 12th edition of this took place on 19SEP26, with 200 events (of which 131 in U.S.) planned at airports, FBOs [Fixed-base Operators], museums and hangars across the U.S., Europe, Africa and Asia. It began in 2015 with 32 events and 3,200 youngsters participating and has now grown to more than ten times the number of participants. The program introduces young people aged 8 to 18, to aviation through hands-on STEM activities, aircraft walk-arounds, simulators and panels with female industry leaders, free of charge.
The earlier the seed of inspiration is planted, the better. That is something that Dolly Parton also understood and encouraged with her international Imagination Library, which gifted books every month to millions of children, from the day they were born up until their fifth birthday. Books that taught them community, emotional skills, and about the world around them. Among her reading list were titles such as ‘Violet the Pilot’, ‘On This Airplane’, and ‘Freddie the Flyer’, to name but three industry-relevant titles.
Women in Air Cargo Awards, Athens, SEP26
This important spirit of recognition will again be taken up in this year’s Aviation Connect in Athens (29SEP-01OCT26), which hosts the Women in Air Cargo Awards. The awards, introduced in 2025 in Copenhagen, celebrate female achievement across the air‑cargo supply chain, and underline the focus on visible role models: “If you can see them, you can be them”, is the message we hope to get out there to the next generation of women in aviation and air cargo.
One thing is certain, however – in the entire air cargo and aviation industry, there is no such thing as “Working 9 to 5”!
*The 15 airports that are named after women, are:
- Queen Alia – Queen Alia International Airport, Amman, Jordan
- Amelia Earhart – Amelia Earhart Memorial Airport, Atchison, Kansas, US (regional)
- Queen Beatrix – Queen Beatrix International Airport, Oranjestad, Aruba
- Fatmawati Soekarno – Fatmawati Soekarno Airport, Bengkulu, Indonesia
- Indira Gandhi – Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi, India
- Jacqueline Cochran – Jacqueline Cochran Regional Airport, Thermal, California, US
- Josefa Camejo – Josefa Camejo International Airport, Paraguaná, Venezuela
- Juana Azurduy de Padilla – Juana Azurduy de Padilla International Airport, Sucre, Bolivia
- Queen Juliana – Princess Juliana International Airport, Sint Maarten
- Maharani Ahilyabai Holkar – Devi Ahilyabai Holkar International Airport, Indore, India
- María Montez – María Montez International Airport, Barahona, Dominican Republic
- Mother Teresa (Nënë Tereza) – Tirana International Airport Nënë Tereza, Albania
- Sabiha Gökçen – Sabiha Gökçen International Airport, Istanbul, Turkey
- Queen Sofía – Tenerife South–Reina Sofía Airport, Spain
- Queen Tamar – Queen Tamar Airport, Mestia, Georgia
Next month, on 26OCT26, Australia will open Western Sydney International Airport, which is also named after a woman: Nancy-Bird Walton (co-founder of a commercial aviation enterprise,) bringing the list up to 17 names, and Dolly’s airport will then be number 18.
