LoneStarMike From United States of America, joined Jul 2000, 3642 posts, RR: 38 Reply 3, posted (11 years 4 months 3 weeks 6 days 19 hours ago) and read 3326 times:
This article on airport codes answers both of your questions.
Ramper@IAH From United States of America, joined Dec 2001, 240 posts, RR: 1 Reply 4, posted (11 years 4 months 3 weeks 6 days 19 hours ago) and read 3275 times:
And the D in Ohare actually comes from Da' Airport...
Actually, O'Hare was previously called Orchard Field, thus, the ORD identifier.
PDX (Portland, Oregon) is another example of the "mysterious X."
Skyguy11 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 5, posted (11 years 4 months 3 weeks 6 days 18 hours ago) and read 3219 times:
X can really stand for anything, such as wx in weather, mx in maintainence, or x in crossing. It's not used much, and when they picked it they probabally just used it to fill space. When you think about it, it wouldn't really sound any better if other letters were used.
DCA-ROCguy From United States of America, joined Apr 2000, 4402 posts, RR: 37 Reply 10, posted (11 years 4 months 3 weeks 6 days 12 hours ago) and read 3054 times:
I think the X in LAX comes from the experience of travelers using the airport. "Los Angeles, eXasperating" describes using that airport, especially getting in and out of it on the ground.
Deltadude8 From United States of America, joined Feb 2000, 569 posts, RR: 6 Reply 12, posted (11 years 4 months 3 weeks 6 days 12 hours ago) and read 3040 times:
MCI= Kansas City International. I have no idea, anyone wanna take a shot?
LoneStarMike From United States of America, joined Jul 2000, 3642 posts, RR: 38 Reply 15, posted (11 years 4 months 3 weeks 6 days 11 hours ago) and read 3010 times:
I think MCI is for Mid Continent International? And Ft. Myers used to be called Southwest Florida Regional Airport. I think for RSW, R is for the regional and SW for southwest.
Here is a better article than the one I posted above.
Airport ABC's: An explanation of airport identifiers
AC340 From Canada, joined Aug 2001, 337 posts, RR: 0 Reply 16, posted (11 years 4 months 3 weeks 6 days 10 hours ago) and read 3010 times:
As Ywg_jy correctly pointed out, Canadian airports codes are 4 letters, each beginning with the letter C. This dates to the time when the Canadian government was allocating radio callsigns. When they allocated callsigns to those in the form CYxx and CXxx to airports. (A radio callsign is just an identifier, like WNBC or KTLA) The 3 letter airport code for a Canadian airport is just the callsign minus the 'C' at the beginning. So Toronto's airport radio callsign is CYYZ and the 3 letter airport code is YYZ, just like Vancouver's is CYVR and YVR. It was just an adminstrative decision. Other countries used a different method to pick airport codes, this was Canada's.
Acidradio From United States of America, joined Mar 2001, 1855 posts, RR: 10 Reply 18, posted (11 years 4 months 3 weeks 6 days 9 hours ago) and read 2962 times:
AIRLINERS.NET CREW FORUM MODERATOR
C'mon, the X is for Malcolm X! Like you guys don't know that!
Bigmikenice From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 21, posted (11 years 4 months 3 weeks 5 days 20 hours ago) and read 2876 times:
The motto for Ft. Myers (SW Florida Reg) is "Ready to Serve the World. They have it written all over their website, and I think they have that code for that reason. Or maybe LoneStarMike is right, and they just figured out that their assigned IATA code worked out as an abbreviation for a cool moniker.
CoAir@IAH From United States of America, joined Feb 2001, 271 posts, RR: 0 Reply 22, posted (11 years 4 months 3 weeks 4 days 21 hours ago) and read 2810 times:
Zrs70 From United States of America, joined Dec 2000, 2872 posts, RR: 10 Reply 23, posted (11 years 4 months 3 weeks 4 days 20 hours ago) and read 2783 times:
In regard to Nashville, and other cities that begin with N... US commercial airports avoid beginning their codes with N, as that letter is reserved for Military fields.
Boeing nut From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 24, posted (11 years 4 months 3 weeks 4 days 20 hours ago) and read 2785 times:
Oh my God... LOL at the FAT reference!!!!
Too funny!!
25 N400QX: >US commercial airports avoid beginning their codes with N, as that letter is reserved for Military fields If I'm not mistaken, the 'N' replaces the n
26 SafetyDude: I think: X-For international LA International Parra: I think Stanted is outside London city limits. So no need for the "L"
27 Yorkie: Not all Canada airports start Y, only the main ones. There is a small 'airport' on the area around 10 miles south-east of YVR known as the Delta, call
28 Scottb: LoneStarMike's second article answers the BNA - Nashville question (Berry-Nashville), but it misses the mark on MSY - MSY stands for "Moisant Stock Ya
29 Fly_emirates: reminds me of Dubai International! now all the the other major airports in the Emirates like Sharjah and Abudhabi, has three code letters with in thie
31 Acidradio: It has to do with LAXatives. You will need them there
32 727LOVER: With Ft. Myers, remember FMY is for Page Field where the airlines used to fly into. But why is Sarasota/Bradenton=SRQ????
33 Leej: Parra, Re LGW, LHR and STN - Heathrow and Gatwick have been the designated London Airports for years now, since the 40's and 50's I believe - Stansted
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