ROBIN Hood Airport - Doncaster Sheffield.
That's the name of South Yorkshire's new £80 million international airport at the former RAF Finningley base.
Today's announcement comes a year after The Star first revealed how airport bosses were seriously considering the name Robin Hood.
They ha
ve also incorporated Doncaster and Sheffield – after market research indicated the city, with its Made In Sheffield brand, is such a well known destination.
But it reopens the centuries-old debate over Yorkshire's claim to England's greatest swashbuckling hero.
Peel Airports, which is bracing itself for a mixed reaction, today denied hijacking Nottingham's most famous son.
Robin Hood is the region's biggest asset as a global brand to attract inbound business and regenerate the local economy, said Commercial Director Neil Pakey. For similar reasons Peel renamed its former Speke Airport as Liverpool John Lennon Airport.
Robin Hood, immortalised worldwide in books, on TV and the big screen, belongs to both counties and Yorkshire has underplayed its part, he said.
There are twice as many Yorkshire sites connected with Robin Hood and research suggests his birthplace may even be Loxley, Sheffield.
It is now understood most of his robbing from the rich and giving to the poor took part not in Sherwood Forest but in Barnsdale – between Barnsley and Doncaster.
Other local historical figures were considered for the airport name, including war pilot Douglas Bader, leading Pilgrim Father William Bradford, and Hull's Amy Johnson, the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia.
Robin Hood Airport will announce its first air operator next week, with flights from March 2005. It aims to attract more than 2.3 million passengers and create over 7,000 new jobs, in little over a decade.
Mr Pakey said of the Robin Hood decision: "We anticipate some people won't take it seriously to begin with. But we want to encourage people to look at the big picture.
"It's a very high-awareness brand.
"The aviation operators realise it's a strong tool and it makes a difference in helping to market the airport. We carried out extensive market research overseas and the Robin Hood connection came head and shoulders above anything else.
"The name Robin Hood Airport - Doncaster Sheffield will soon be appearing in holiday brochures."
What do you think of the name? Email starletters@sheffieldnewspapers.co.uk or write to The Editor, The Star, York Street, Sheffield, South Yorkshire S1 1PU.