The Town Hall of Murcia and the regional government have been campaigning to rename Corvera Airport after Juan de la Cierva. There were originally plans for the airport to be named after him before Corvera Airport opened last month, but the name was not approved by the Civil Aviation Authority, which is also dependent on the Ministry of Development in the National Government. However, it appears that Corvera Airport could soon see a change in name.
Earlier this month, the change of name was discussed during the final meeting of a parliamentary committee and the backing was given to rename the airport after Juan de la Cierva. It is also reported that the next steps for this process need to be taken by the Civil Aviation Authority, though this has not yet been confirmed. It still remains to be seen as to whether the renaming of Corvera Airport will go ahead.
Juan de la Cierva was born in Murcia in 1895 and is credited as the inventor of the autogyro, which helped to lead to the invention of the helicopter. He made several historic flights throughout his career until his death in 1936 during a plane crash in Crodyon in the UK. His name is commemorated by streets names in various towns and a secondary school in the regional capital. It is suspected that the reason that Corvera Airport has not yet been named after Juan de la Cierva is due to suspicions that he may have been to connected to General Franco, though this connection has not been confirmed.
There has been no update from the Civil Aviation Authority on whether Corvera Airport could potentially be rename