Some airport codes make perfect sense: SMO for Santa Monica Municipal Airport or VNY for Van Nuys, the busiest general aviation airport in the country.
But other codes don’t seem to make sense, like MSY for New Orleans International Airport (it stands for Moisant Stock Yards after aviation pioneer John Moisant) or MCI for Kansas City’s airport (the MC stands for Mid-Continent, an airline that used MCI for a hub way back in the 1950s.)
Airport codes can be a mystery, according to officials with Artemis Aerospace.
Airport coding began in the 1930s in the United States, when pilots found it a convenient way to identify locations. Air travel was growing exponentially — according to statistics from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, the number of commercial airplane travelers rose from 6,000 in 1930 to 1.2 million by 1938.
Initially, a two-letter code for identifying cities was adopted from the National Weather Service (NWS), but not all cities had a NWS identity and the growth of new airports made this unpractical. In addition, only using two letters meant that available combinations soon ran out.
Airports began to choose their own three letter identities, which allowed for a total of 17,576 permutations, but it wasn’t until the 1960s that the system we know today came into being.
Regulated by Montreal-based IATA, the International Air Transport Association, the unique code for every airport is published twice a year in the IATA Airline Coding Directory.
As well as IATA versions, there is another code type which is defined by ICAO, the International Civil Aviation Organization. These codes are separate from IATA codes, consist of four letters and are the international standard for operations between air traffic service providers, such as air traffic controllers. They are used for flight plans and are usually the ones you will see on flight tracking apps.
The easiest codes to decipher are those named directly after the city, for example ATL for Atlanta or DFW for Dallas Fort Worth.
Many large cities will have several airports, which means that some codes may not be straightforward. For example, if you’re flying to New York, there are three major airports, John F Kennedy International (JFK), LaGuardia (LGA) and Newark Liberty International (EWR). The first two are self-explanatory, but where does EWR come from?
In America, all codes starting with N are reserved for use by the US Navy, so three other letters from Newark were picked, Artemis officials explained, adding that Liberty was added to the name in 2002 to pay tribute to the victims of United Airlines Flight 93, so it doesn’t figure in the airport code at all.
Another puzzle is why the letter X features in so many airport codes, such as LAX for Los Angeles or DXB for Dubai. This dates back to the changeover from two letter codes to three, when it was deemed easier to add an X to the name.
A study of airport codes wouldn’t be complete without looking at some of the more amusing ones. Guaranteed to raise a smile is a journey to Derby Field Airport in Nevada, known as LOL, Omega Airport in Namibia, designated OMG, or Yuma in Arizona, which is YUM. Brazil’s Poco de Caldas Airport and Russia’s Bolshoye Savino Airport are POO and PEE respectively, while Sioux City, Iowa, carries the handle of SUX.
What general aviation airports have the best — or weirdest — codes? Let us know in the comments below.
I was stumped by Allentown PA’s secondary airport, Queen City Airport. “XLL”. Nothing in its history made any connection. The only thing I could think of was referring to Allentown’s old moniker of “The Queen City” , so maybe…. eXtra Large Lady”? LOL.
Well, wikipedia pointed the way. It was renamed as “Little Lehigh Executive” for a neighboring waterway, the Little Lehigh Creek.
Thank you. GREAT read, informative and funny. Captain Jerry in Texas.
Before MIA was Miami International Airport it was Pan American Field (PAF). Was there ever a 3-letter code for the Dinner Key seaplane base (now Miami City Hall)?
Owosso, MI is KRNP. Around 2004, when they got an AWOS they had to change to 3 letter ID. Couldn’t get what they requested so settled on RNP, “real nice people”. A great restaurant started on the field around then, originally run by volunteers. A great success, thanks to those real nice people!
Naples, Florida airport is APF, dating from its construction during WWII. Naples was a small village back then. Page Field, a little north in Ft. Myers, was a military training field and the Naples airport was a secondary airport for Page Field. Thus Naples was “Auxiliary Page Field” or APF.
KLIT for Bill and Hillary Clinton seems to fit
While people have identified a lot of good ones, I suspect a lot had to do with what was available. Then some smart people going back and seeing what words in the area you could make fit. Smaller airports for sure as they just kind of got what ever was left-over. Also there are multiple set of airport identifiers, not just the FAA ones. IATA, ICAO and FAA come to mind.
There seems to be many, many airfields with the identifier of (PVT).😳😂
A lot of those PVT airfields, like mine, are actually owned by people who enjoy letting folks fly in and enjoy their places. I served on the Recreational Aviation Foundation board for quite a few years and we work with owners to encourage them to make their airfields available by posting whatever conditions the owners want visitors to follow. You can find information on a great many fields across the nation by visiting the RAF at http://www.theraf.org and accessing the Airfield Guide.
. Cheers, from Rol Murrow,
. RAF Director Emeritus,
. Murrow Field on the Divide NM99
Interesting that you started the article with one of the most controversial airport closures, Santa Monica, SMO. It will never see those jets parked there ever again. One of the oldest airports in the country, originally Clover Field, named for a WWI hero. It closed this year.
SMO is not yet closed. In a non public process a few years back the FAA met with city officisial and agreed to allow the airport to shorten the runway from 5,499′ to 3,500′ feet to create safety zones at both ends (and keep large jetsout), and allowed the city to close the airport in 2028 if it wants. This was done with no public hearing or permission of Congress which had been the policy in the past for airports that had transfer agreements from the federal government related to WWII. The city plans to close the airport in 2028 but it is still open now.
JFK in NYC. The original name was Idlewild, which still exists. It’s the racetrack north west of the airport itself. It came to fame because Glen Curtis flew his airplanes from the infield grass. When they built the original airport it was named Idlewild in honor of the track. If you look on a sectional or in Foreflight you will see the race track symbol under the name Baisley.
One of my favorite codes is KRAP for Rapid City, SD. But, I always wondered how Nashville, TN got BNA or Charleston, WV got CRW
BNA stands for Berry Nashville Airport. It’s named for Col Harry Berry, a WPA Administrator.
From Wikipedia: It is now rare to see the “Berry Field” portion used, but the airport’s IATA code (BNA) is short for Berry Field Nashville, and the military facilities at the airport are still commonly known by this name.
I grew up riding United Convair 340s in and out of Fresno, CA, also known as FAT. My dad worked 40 years for UAL, much of it at FAT. I suppose it just stands for Fresno Air Terminal, but back in WWII times, it was known as Hammer Field. Our comings and goings used to send the jack rabbits scampering through the cotton planted between the runways and taxiways at FAT.
Flying from Fresno to Wenatchee, WA makes it even more interesting 🙂
I didn’t realize that Yuma moved from Arizona to Alaska.
Leesburg, VA was called Godfrey Field in honor of Arthur Godfrey. JYO came via a very egotistical airport manager. So sad.
Orlando International, as everyone knows, is the main destination for trips to central Florida and all the attractions. MCO is the identifier for Orlando, and everyone attributes this to “Micky & Company.” However, long before Disney took over the world, MCO was McCoy Air Force Base, named after Colonel Michael Norman Wright McCoy who was killed on 9 October 1957 in the crash of a B-47 Stratojet just north of Orlando during a bombing competition. McCoy AFB operated as a SAC base until 1962, when it hammered-out a deal with the city to become a joint use airport which added civilian passenger operations. Orlando-McCoy Jetport operated from 1964 until 1975, when the Air Force departed and the entire airfield became property of Orlando (and Micky!).
FTG changed to CFO. East of Denver. Front Range to Colorado Air and Spaceport. WTF.
No rockets yet.
Where is WTF? I should be based there, as it describes my work on a daily basis 🙂
KORD – O’Hare – Orchard
KFFO – Wright Patterson – Fairfield Osborne
The main airport in Kansas City was MKC. It was along River and runways could not be lengthened to support larger jet aircraft so an entirely new airport was built. Opened in 1970’s and was called Mid-Continent (MCI)because it was Mid-Continent. The major airline was TWA with headquarters in Kansas City.
Years ago I was to deliver an aircraft for a pre-buy inspection to Brownfield, TX. When I looked up the identifier I realized I had finally located the often referred to – BFE.
MCI, standing for Mid-Continent International Airport, was reserved for a new airport constructed in Kansas City for the Trans World Airlines Maintenance Base, while the existing commercial airport, MKC, was still in use. All commercial air carrier operations were moved from MKC to MCI in 1971 and the airport became known as Kansas City International Airport while still reserving the MCI code.
I am puzzled about the reference to Mid-Continent Airlines as to my recollection there were no terminal facilities at MCI until they were constructed as part of the move of all commerical oerations to MCI in 1971. Until then, MCI airport consisted of a single runway, an ATCT Tower, and the TWA Maintenance Base. TWA also used the airport for flight training at that time and I recall doing touch and go’s with an instructor on several occasions with a TWA Boeing 707 as our only traffic.
KFLY – Meadow Lake Airport in Colorado Springs
Thanks for the insight, our local airport Clearfield/Lawrence is (fig) .I sure would like to know what it stands for.. It would have been better to be (fog).
There are also old city airports superseded by something new. A good example is Hartford Connecticut, where close-to-downtown Brainerd Field is HFD, while most passengers schlepp up to the newer, larger airport shared with Springfield Massachusetts – Bradley International, aka BDL.
Brainard Field (the downtown Hartford airport also called Hartford-Brainard), and Bradley International (halfway between Hartford, CT and Springfield, MA). Brainard was a Hartford mayor, and Bradley was a military officer killed in a airplane crash. By coincidence, the somewhat similar sounding names have caused confusion plenty of times to non-pilots. In the years I worked at Brainard, several times I saw a car driving slowly up and down Lindbergh Drive, the single dead-end street bordering the airport. It was always someone looking for the airline terminal at Bradley, 13 miles to the north. One time it was a family who best I can remember was to take an international flight. They were driving south from Massachusetts, drove right past Exit 40 (Bradley International) and took exit 27 for Hartford-Brainard airport. When I told them what happened, they only had 30 minutes to make their flight so I’m sure they missed it. Since Bradley International is in Connecticut, it’s often generally associated with being located in Hartford. A good example – I just looked at a pending reservation we have and it shows our departure airport as BDL Hartford, CT (its location is actually Windsor Locks, CT). So passengers have to be as careful as pilots when it comes to finding the airport.
Gilliam-McConnell Airfield in central NC is BQ1—home of the Pik-n-Pig barbecue restaurant. A favorite for pilots and locals in the Carolinas, and an easy airport identifier to remember.
Wiscasset, Maine, is KIWI
In northern California, we have SAC, which is Sacramento Executive Airport, while Sacramento International is SMF, and SMX is Santa Maria, on the central coast.
Grass Valley is GOO, and Blue Canyon is BLU.
University Davis Airport is EDU.