The Phoenix City Council voted Tuesday to name a terminal at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport for Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
The proposal to name Terminal 3 the John S. McCain III Terminal came from Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton and was unanimously approved.
“I’m deeply humbled by the Phoenix City Council’s decision to designate Terminal 3 at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in my name,” McCain said in a statement. “I have rarely felt at once so honored and yet so unworthy of an honor as I do today.”
The city council took the first step to designate the terminal in his name in November, when it unanimously voted to start the naming process.
“Senator McCain has given so much of himself to our country, to Arizona and to Phoenix. Giving something back to an American hero, a former naval aviator, and a 30-year member of the U.S. Senate is the least we can do,” Stanton said in a statement at the time. “It’s perfectly fitting that our busiest terminals at Sky Harbor would be named for two of Arizona’s best-known aviators and most impactful public servants — Senator Barry Goldwater and Senator John McCain.”
The terminal is currently under renovation, and the $590 million project is expected to be finished by 2020. Once completed, it will have a new south concourse with 15 new gates. The north concourse will also be remodeled and include new shops and restaurants, according to the mayor’s office.
McCain has served in the Senate since 1987, succeeding Goldwater. He was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, in July.
