The FAA announced on Feb. 10 it will be updating aeronautical charts and databases to include the names The Gulf of America and Mount McKinley, replacing the Gulf of Mexico and Denali, respectively. The agency advised it is in the process of updating charts and databases, changes that will be targeted for the next publication cycle.
The FAA said, “This Charting Notice implements President Trump’s direction in Executive Order 14172, ‘Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness,’ that the names be changed.”
The name changes are not without controversy. This afternoon (Feb. 11), the White House turned away an Associated Press (AP) reporter from a press event on the grounds that the agency had not altered its style book to reflect the President’s executive order that changes the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
In a statement, an AP spokesperson wrote: “It is alarming that the Trump administration would punish AP for its independent journalism. Limiting our access to the Oval Office based on the content of AP’s speech not only severely impedes the public’s access to independent news, it plainly violates the First Amendment.”
