Phoenix council advances renaming Sky Harbor terminal after McCain
Nov 29, 2017, 5:44 PM | Updated: Mar 1, 2018, 3:33 pm
(Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and AP Photos)
(Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and AP Photos)
PHOENIX — The Phoenix City Council voted Wednesday to consider naming a terminal at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport after U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).
The council voted unanimously to begin the process of renaming the airport’s Terminal 3 as the John S. McCain III Terminal.
However, Wednesday’s vote did not mean the name change was set in stone: The discussion will now go to a commission, who will hold a hearing and will pass on a recommendation to the council.
The vote came the same day that People Magazine revealed doctors found a second tumor in the senator’s brain. He was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a rare and aggressive cancer, over the summer.
The idea to name Terminal 3 after McCain was proposed by Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton earlier this month.
“Sen. McCain has given so much of himself to our country, to Arizona and to Phoenix,” Stanton said in a statement.
“Giving something back to an American hero, a former naval aviator, and a 30-year member of the U.S. Senate is the least we can do.”
A $590 million remodel of Terminal 3 was expected to be completed by 2020.
Another facility at Sky Harbor, Terminal 4, was also named after a prominent Republican lawmaker.
“It’s perfectly fitting that our busiest terminals at Sky Harbor would be named for two of Arizona’s best-known aviators and most impactful public servants – Sen. Barry Goldwater and Sen. John McCain,” Stanton said.
McCain has been elected to the Senate five times.
