By Richard M. Barron richard.barron@greensboro.com Jan 11, 2018 GREENSBORO — The Piedmont Triad Airport Authority said Thursday it is open to public suggestions for its new name for Piedmont Triad International Airport. The authority said in a news release that its vote last month to change the name of the airport to Central North Carolina International Airport was the beginning of a rebranding process and that there’s room for the public to make its voice heard. After the name change was announced, local residents staged a mini revolt, writing a spate of letters to the editor and signing nearly 6,000 names to an anti-name-change petition posted on Change.org. Although the name change was set to happen Jan. 1, the airport’s website and road signs retain the Piedmont Triad International Airport name. “The Authority would like to emphasize that the vote to change the name of the airport authorized staff to begin the rebranding process, including hiring a professional branding firm to develop a new brand. That process is expected to take several months,” the board said in the news release. “During this phase of the process, the Authority is open to alternative suggestions that support a geographical identity for the airport. Until the process is completed, all references to the airport, including signage, will remain unchanged. The ‘GSO’ code will not change.” For more than 30 years, residents of the area have known their airport as PTI, but apparently that name didn’t resonate with people outside the region. So the Piedmont Triad Airport Authority decided after months of discussion to make a big change that it believed would better describe where our airport appears on the map. Airport officials spent time talking to political, business and civic leaders about a new name that had to emphasize “Carolina” and “international.” Nearly 850,000 people flew out of the airport in 2016, and while it’s nowhere near as busy as Raleigh-Durham International Airport or Charlotte Douglas International Airport, PTI has been where many people make their first flight, routinely greet friends and family members and take off for short business trips to New York or Chicago. Contact Richard M. Barron at 336-373-7371 and follow @BarronBizNR on Twitter.