Story ID: 
Maine Airport Changes Name
By: Curt Epstein
Caption: According to authorities, the new name better reflects how the airport is identified by its customers.
Word Count: 180
Starting today, Northern Maine Regional Airport (PQI) is known as Presque Isle International Airport.

According to airport director Scott Wardwell, focus groups had determined that among its customers the airport was more widely identified with Presque Isle. “It reflects the fact that we are a landing rights airport, and it reflects the growth that we are expecting in the next couple of years,” he told AIN.

Owned and operated by the city of Presque Isle, the dual-use airport located just below the northern U.S. border attracts a large number of Canadian passengers. It offers a 7,439-foot main runway and features a municipally run FBO that sees use as an international tech stop, with available U.S. Customs.

The move corresponds with United Airlines taking over the federally subsidized essential air service contract for the airport from PenAir, which suspended its East Coast operations at the beginning of June, citing a shortage of pilots and mechanics. United brings commercial jet operations to the airport for the first time in nearly four decades.