Where Are You Flying To? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Guglielmo Marconi Airport

Founded in 1088, the University of Bologna claims the status of the world's first higher-learning, degree-awarding institute. It is perhaps not surprising, then, that the city's international airport should be named after a scholar and Nobel laureate.

Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi was born in Bologna in 1874. An electrical engineer and inventor, he is often credited with the invention of radio. He certainly shared the 1909 Nobel Prize for Physics with the German inventor Karl Ferdinand Braun for their pioneering work in the field of wireless telegraphy.

The city itself is also one of the oldest in Europe, with human habitation here stretching back more than 3,000 years. At one period in the Middle Ages, it was also Europe's largest city.

Of the alternatives, Giuseppe Verdi Airport serves Parma; the composer was born in the nearby commune of Busseto in 1813. Federico Fellini International Airport serves Rimini, the filmmaker having been born in the city in 1920. Marco Polo Airport serves Venice; the explorer was born in the city in 1274.

Answer: Mahatma Gandhi

The Indira Gandhi International Airport, designated DEL, is the primary hub for the National Capital region at Delhi.

She was born Indira Priyadarshini Nehru in 1917 in the northern city of Allahabad, then in the United Province of British India and now in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Her father, Jawaharlal Nehru, was a leading figure in India's independence movement. He became the country's first and longest-standing Prime Minister, serving 17 years from 1947 until his death in 1964. Indira Gandhi became India's fourth Prime Minister in 1966, serving until 1977. She was re-elected in 1980 and served until her assassination in 1984.

The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, IATA designation HYD, is located in Shamshabad, a suburb of the country's fourth-largest city, Hyderabad. Rajiv Gandhi, born in Bombay in 1944, was India's seventh Prime Minister, and its youngest. He took office in 1984 after the assassination of his mother, Indira Gandhi and served for just over five years.

Mahatma Gandhi was born Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi in 1869 in the coastal city of Porbandar, now in the state of Gujarat. The international face of the Indian independence movement, he has been honored with the Mahatma Gandhi Park in the seaport of Kollam, the Gandhi Medical College in Hyderabad, the Mahatma Gandhi Marg, one of the busiest roads and shopping districts in the city of Indore, with the Mahatma Gandhi Road metro station in Kolkata, and with the Mahatma Gandhi University in Kerala State. There is, however, no international airport in India named for Mahatma Gandhi.

Answer: Sydney

Kingsford Smith Airport, IATA code SYD, is located next to Botany Bay in the suburb of Mascot, five miles south of the centre of Sydney. With the first regular flights beginning in 1924, Kingsford Smith is the world's oldest continuously-operated commercial international airport.

Sir Charles Edward Kingsford Smith was born in a northern suburb of Brisbane in 1897. He served with the Australian Army at the disastrous Gallipoli campaign in 1915 before joining the Royal Flying Corps in 1917. He earned the Military Cross when he was shot down in August of that same year, losing most of his left foot as a result. In 1928, he made the first Trans-Pacific flight, from Oakland, California to Brisbane via Hawaii and Fiji, a total distance of 7,187 miles which Smith and his three crew covered in a flying time of just under 82 hours at an average speed of just under 90 mph.

Sydney's international airport was renamed in honour of Kingsford Smith in 1936. Kingsford-Smith and his co-pilot had had been attempting to break the England-Australia speed record when their plane disappeared during an overnight leg between India and Singapore November 1935. Parts of the plane were found 90 feet deep in the Andaman Sea eighteen months later, but the bodies were never recovered.

Answer: George Best

Located next to the port, three miles from the centre of Belfast, the Belfast City Airport was renamed in honour of soccer player George Best in 2006.

Born in Belfast in 1946, Best made his debut for Manchester United in 1963 at the age 17. In 11 years with the club, Best averaged more than a goal every two games, scoring 181 times in 361 appearances. He won two league titles with United (in 1965 and 1967) and the 1968 European Cup, the first English winners of Europe's most prestigious trophy. In 1968 he was named both Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year and European Footballer of the Year. Best died from complications relating to alcoholism at the age of 59 in 2005.

Of the alternatives, goalkeeper Pat Jennings made more than 1,000 top-level appearances including a record 119 for Northern Ireland which, at the time of his retirement in 1986, was a record for any country. Mary Peters, although born in Lancashire in England, lived in Northern Ireland from the age of eleven. Peters represented Northern Ireland at every Commonwealth Games between 1958 and 1974, winning the pentathlon twice and the shot once, but it was representing Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the Munich Olympics in 1972 that she became the true darling of the public by winning the pentathlon. Born in Belfast in 1949, Alex Higgins won the world Snooker Championship in 1972 and 1982, and reached two other finals (in 1976 and 1980). Victory in the 1983-84 UK Championship completed the Triple Crown (World championship, The Masters and the UK) for Higgins, the third player to achieve this feat following Steve David and Terry Griffiths. (Neil Robertson became only the tenth player to complete the Triple Crown in 2013).

Answer: Tokyo, Japan

Haneda Airport, IATA code HND, is located in the special ward of Ota, less than ten miles south of the centre of Tokyo. Opened in 1931, prior to this flights coming into Tokyo landed on the beaches of Tokyo Bay. Between 1931 and 1978, Haneda was Tokyo's primary international hub.

Between 1978 and 2010, Haneda was limited to domestic flights and a few charters to neighboring countries whilst most international flights arrived at Narita International (NRT) which is some 40 miles east of the centre of the city.

The opening of a fourth runway and a dedicated international terminal at Haneda in 2010 allowed it to again operate long-haul flights. International passenger arrivals into Tokyo are now split roughly 50/50 between the two airports, although Narita still handles a larger percentage of international cargo.

Answer: Casablanca, Morocco

Originally named Berrechid Airfield when built by the United states in 1943, the airport was primarily used as a refelling point for flights crossing the Atlantic from the U.S. to other points in Africa. Early in the Cold War, the airport was re-designated as Nouasseur Air Base and served as a staging area for bombers ready to fly towards the Soviet Union. Many locals still refer to the airport today as "Nouaceur", although the Americans began departing after Morocco gained independence in 1956 and were completely out by 1963.

The airport was renamed in honour of Mohammed V, a member of the Alaouite Dynasty who was Sultan of Morocco from 1927 until 1953, when he was forced to decamp to Corsica by occupying French forces. Returning in 1955 after two years in exile, he was named King in 1957, a position he held until his death at the age of 51 in 1961.

Answer: Charles M. Schulz

The Charles M. Schulz Airport (IATA code STS) serves the city of Santa Rosa, the capital of Sonoma County, which is the north-westernmost of the nine counties that constitute the San Francisco Bay area region.

Nicknamed "Sparky", Charles Monroe Schulz was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1922. Snoopy first appeared in a cartoon strip published in the St. Paul Pioneer Press in 1947, and it was here that Schulz also first introduced a character named Charlie Brown into his single-panel jokes.

In the almost 50 years that Schulz produced the "Peanuts" cartoons, he drew close to 18,000 strips. At its height, the strip appeared daily in more than 2,500 newspapers across 75 countries and was translated into more than 20 different languages.

Following Schulz's death in Santa Rosa at the age of 77 in 2000, the country airport was renamed in his honour. A new airport logo was also designed, featuring Snoopy, suitably replete in scarf and aviator's goggles reminiscent of a World War I flyboy, sitting atop an aerial version of his famous red doghouse.

Answer: Jomo Kenyatta

"NBO" is the IATA code for the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport which is located just ten miles southeast of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. The hub for Kenya Airways, African Express Airways and Fly540, Jomo Kenyatta International handles more than five million passengers annually with flights to more than fifty countries.

It was named Embakasi Airport when it was opened in 1958, and was renamed Nairobi International following Kenya's independence in 1964. It was renamed after the country's first President following his death in 1978.

Born Kamau wa Ngengi in 1891 in the small town of Gatundu in what was then called British East Africa. In the 1930s, he studied social anthropology at the London School of Economics under the name Johnstone Kenyatta. He later shortened the first name to 'Jomo', which translates to "burning spear" in English. In 1952, he was tried and imprisoned on charges that he was a member of the radically anti-colonial Mau Mau Society. In 1960, a petition bearing more than a million signatures and demanding his release was presented to the Governor and he was eventually released in August 1961. Kenyatta became Prime Minister of an autonomous Kenya in June 1963 and the country's first President when it became an independent republic a year later, a position he retained for nearly 14 years until his death.

Answer: Havana, Cuba

When it opened in 1930, it was called Rancho Boyeros (meaning the "(Bull) Drover Ranch") because that is what had stood on the site previously, and many locals still refer to the airport by this name. It is located ten miles southwest of the Cuban capital, Havana.

José Julián Martí Pérez was born in 1853 in Havana, the eldest of eight siblings, the other seven all girls. Arrested on charges of treason by the Spanish colonialist at the age of 16, Marti was first imprisoned and later deported to Spain. Later, as a student at the Central University of Madrid, Marti conducted a campaign in the Spanish and American press against Spanish activities in Cuba. After periods in Guatemala, Mexico, Venezuela and the U.S.A., a 42-year old Marti finally returned to Cuba with detailed plans to stage an uprising, which duly began in February 1895. Marti was killed in May 1895, fighting Spanish troops at the Battle of Dos Rios. Today, there are statues of Jose Marti not only in Havana but also in Cadiz, Spain and in Central park in New York City. The international airport in Havana is also named in his honour.

Answer: Major General James Wolfe

The Macdonald-Cartier International Airport, IATA code YOW, is named jointly for Sir John A. Macdonald, the Scottish-born first Prime Minister of Canada, serving two terms from 1867-73 and 1878-91, and Sir George-Étienne Cartier, a leader amongst the 36 original "Fathers of Confederation". Located six miles south of downtown Ottawa, it is the sixth-busiest airport in Canada and the main international gateway into the country's capital.

Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport, IATA code YUL, was previously called Montréal-Dorval International Airport. Located on the Island of Montreal, some twelve miles from the city centre, it is now named in honour of the fifteenth Canadian Prime Minister who served two terms from 1968-79 and 1980-84.

The Lester B. Pearson International Airport, IATA code YYZ, is situated fourteen miles northwest of downtown Toronto. Canada's largest and busiest airport, it is named in honour of the Nobel Peace Prize winner and Canada's fourteenth Prime Minister, who held office between 1963 and 1968.

Born in 1727 in the parish of Westerham in Sevenoaks in Kent, England, Major-General James Wolfe is best known for his 1759 victory over the French in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. Although he was depicted in a famous painting, "The Death of General Wolfe" by the Anglo-American artist Benjamin West and dubbed "The Hero of Quebec", his posthumous fame was not enough for a
Canadian airport to be named in his honour.