Manchester-Boston Airport? Massport says it won't fly

Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery.

But officials running Boston's Logan International Airport were a little flustered, not flattered, yesterday to find out the head of Manchester Airport in New Hampshire is thinking of renaming it ''Manchester-Boston Regional Airport."

Manchester airport director Kevin Dillon told the New Hampshire Union Leader newspaper the change could help travelers from elsewhere in the United States know how convenient the Granite State airport is to Boston and its northern suburbs. Some other exurban airports have renamed themselves to glom onto the metropolis, such as Orlando Sanford International Airport in Florida, 18 miles outside Orlando, and Washington Dulles International Airport in northern Virginia, about 26 miles outside of the capital.

Manchester is about 55 miles north of Boston. But depending on traffic, it can be as easy for travelers to head up Interstate 93 or Route 3 from areas along Route 128 as it would be to go to Logan.

''I think if we were to move forward, we'd probably look at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport," Dillon said in a story that appeared in yesterday's Union Leader. ''It's the passenger in Albuquerque that we're concerned about, that they can geographically understand where Manchester Airport is located and our proximity to all of the major business centers, not only in the Manchester area, but in the Boston area as well."

Manchester airport officials did not return calls yesterday from the Globe seeking comment.

The New Hampshire airport served a record-high 4.3 million passengers last year, according to its website, thanks in large part to booming demand from discount carrier Southwest Airlines. Still, that's only one-sixth the number of passengers that came through Logan in 2005.

Craig P. Coy, chief executive of the Massachusetts Port Authority, which runs Logan, has asked authority lawyers to see whether Massport would have any legal standing to oppose Manchester adding Boston to its name.

Notably, however, Massport has over the years seriously considered renaming the Worcester Regional Airport, which it runs under contract with that city, Worcester-Boston Regional to help promote service there. The last major airline offering regular service at Worcester, US Airways Express, left Worcester in February 2003, and currently Worcester has just flights to Orlando on Allegiant Air.

While they wait for word from the lawyers, Massport officials are, if nothing else, impressed by Manchester's cheekiness.

Massport spokeswoman Danny Levy joked that the authority was now considering demanding naming rights from Manchester -- or renaming itself Boston-New York Airport once a $4 billion modernization project is done.

''But seriously," Levy added, ''there is one Boston, one Boston Red Sox, and one Boston Logan International Airport."

Added Seth Gitell, press secretary to Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino: ''It's just another example of a city trying to ride on the back of a truly great city, Boston, Massachusetts. It's the free-loader effect gone awry."

Peter J. Howe can be reached at howe@globe.com.