I recall one changing its airport code - from FMY to RSW (Ft. Myers, Florida).

I have always been fascinated with airport codes. ORD - why letter D???

LAX -- why letter X??? CVG -- why letters V and G!!!

ATL has the best airport code! Don't ever change it, LOL

I wonder if any other airport changed its airport code?

I thought Fayettville, AK changed their code to XNA, I dont remember what it was before that...FVY????

CoVinGton
ORcharD Field
LA + random X when one went from a two- to a three-letter-system

>>>I wonder if any other airport changed its airport code?

IDL -> JFK
GEN -> OSL

Daniel 

Depending how old the airport is it is either named after a person an old air force base or a past owner or lease holder name, ?? Or location but you do have a point. AKA Spokane is GEG - - where does that come from Geiger Feild but I belive that will change in 2006 because the lease is up and the city wants to buy the airport or the 3rd runway or 2nd I cant quite remember but anyway . .

I think DFW and JFK have the best code but ATL is also good. Whatever floats your boat.

Also CVG is that because it is located in Covington, Kentucky right outside of Cincinnati, Ohio.

MIA, DCA are also good.

Regards

>>>I have always been fascinated with airport codes.

THN YOO WIL LUV

http://www.mapping.com

PLS CHK THS WEB PAG FOR GRT INN FFO CON CRN ING AIR POR TCO DES.

HAV FUN WIT DIR TEE STF LKE SEX, GAY BUT FUK, DIL DOH, ETC.

( = Trollhattan/Sweden, Oshawa/Canada, Nairobi-Wilson/Kenya, Langgur/Indonesia, Providenciales/Turks-Caicos, Chickasha/Ok, Sukhotai/Thailand, Webequie/On, Pagadian/Philippines, Fortaleza/Brazil, Gujrat/Pakistan, Innsbruck/Austria Dayton-Patterson/Oh, Concord/NH, Cromarty/UK, Lago Argentino/Argentina, Aripuana/Brazil, Pori/Finland, Tumaco/Colombia, Desroches/Seychelles, Havana/Cuba, Funafuti/Tuvalu, Wittendom Gorge/Australia, Dire Dawa/Ethiopia, Tebessa/Algeria, Stephen Island/Australia Seattle-Lake Union/Wa, Sembach/Germany, Gaya/India, Burtonwood/UK, Fukuoka/Japan, Dili/Timorleste, Doha/Qatar, Tarboro/NC)

My favorite...SMF because we call it smurf

Ones I forget which is which

HNL and HLN
GSO and GSP


My boss really likes the airport code trivia...

Why is Columbus Mississippi GTR?

Greater Triangle (I think that is right).

Shawn

I agree that DFW and JFK are nice codes.


Hartford - BDL !!! that confuses me big time

MSY - New Orleans!?

i am sure there are many other codes that are hard to identify

"I recall one changing its airport code - from FMY to RSW (Ft. Myers, Florida)"

Actually FMY is Page Field, the older airport right in Fort Myers. RSW was named when the current airport then called "Southwest Florida Regional Airport" was built. FMY and RSW are two separate facilities.

Re: Hartford

BDL = Bradley Field

ORD used to be an apple ORcharD before it became an airport.

XNA is Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport serving Fayetteville and Springdale. FYV is Drake Field, Fayetteville, AR. Once again, two separate facilities.

Reply 6 is very good....I'm impressed. To elaborate on some others....ORD is for Orchard Field, once a little airstrip in the NW Chicago hinterlands, until WW2 started and Douglas built a large acft assy plant there. Was renamed O'Hare after a local war hero, Navy pilot Butch O'Hare. MCO, eg, comes from McCoy AFB, which deactivated and was taken over by the City of Orlando to build their new facility. BNA...Berry field NAshville...BDL for Bradley Field in Windsor Locks (Hartford)....FAT Fresno Air Terminal...SNA Orange County (SaNta Ana)....MSY Moissant New Orleans (not sure of the derivation of that one)...SDF StanDiFord Fld Louisville....MCI Kansas City MidContinent Int'l (originally built by TWA as a tng and maint base)...on and on. I realize all the airline info hounds already know these, but for anyone just joining up, that's a starter...chow

I read once long ago that the FAA does not EVER change an airport code once it has been assigned. Poor Sioux City, IA has tried in vain to get a new designator but the FAA makes them stay with SUX.

Fresno has been trying for years with no luck. FAT

that's what I thought -- airport code never changes.. but Washington National Airport changed its airport NAME to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport DCA stays the same just an interesting note

HAV for Havana International Airport "Jose Marti" is a good one too!

A number are just the first three words of the city's name:

BOS - Boston
BUF - Buffalo
ALB - Albany
SYR - Syracuse, NY
ROC - Rochester, NY
PIT - Pittsburgh
STL - St. Louis
CLE - Cleveland
DAY - Dayton
IND - Indianapolis
ATL - Atlanta
SAV - Savannah
MIA - Miami
MOB - Mobile
MEM - Memphis
LIT - Little Rock
TUL - Tulsa
LAW - Lawton/Fort Sill, OK
AUS - Austin
AMA - Amarillo
HOU - Houston (Hobby)
ELP - El Paso
DEN - Denver
BIL - Billings
BOI - Boise
OMA - Omaha
SAN - San Diego
BUR - Burbank
ONT - Ontario, CA
OAK - Oakland
EUG - Eugene
SEA - Seattle
LAS - Las Vegas
ANC - Anchorage
MEX - Mexico City
A C A - Acapulco
NAS - Nassau
AMS - Amsterdam
OSL - Oslo
DUB - Dublin
MAN - Manchester
GLA - Glasgow
EDI - Edinburgh
MAD - Madrid
BUD - Budapest
VIE - Vienna
ATH - Athens
F R A - Frankfurt
BRE - Bremen
INN - Innsbruck
BRU - Brussels
PEK - Peking (Beijing)
FUK - Fukuoka
SYD - Sydney

For some reason Canadian cities start with a "Y"

YVR - Vancouver
YWG - Winnipeg
YUL - Montreal
YOW - Ottawa
YYZ - Toronto
YEG - Edmonton
YYC - Calgary
YQR - Regina
YXE - Saskatoon
YHZ - Halifax
YZF - Yellowknife

Regarding MSY for New Orleans's airport. It was built on the site of the Moisant Stockyards - hence MSY.

What about GRU and EZE? This wonderful website tells me why - part of the name!

I like LCY (or Lucy) - London City.

OSL changed because they built a new airport. Was the old one FBU (Fornebu?) or was it OSL?

Other airports which took over an old airport and its ID: DEN, HKG.... any more? I note DEN comes up with Stapleton - that was the old one, right?

Geoff M.

Sometimes they had to alter one of the initials, because they are already in use:

MDP Mindiptana, Indonesia

then

MDQ Mar del Plata, Argentina

I still like FUK for Fukuoka, Japan. And PUS for Pusan, S. Korea. A few others are CLT, PNS, and CUN.


Sean from MCO

DIA -- new airport code for Denver International Airport

DEN is old airport.

DEN is still the airport code for denver - DIA is a local reference.

DIA -- not an airport code? interesting thanks for noting that

ORD:

O'Hare was originally named Apple Orchard Airport in the early days when the FAA predecessor, the CAA, designated three letter names to airports. ORD is short for Orchard Airport. Hence, the three letter designation does not change, so the name ORD stayed with O'Hare to these present times.

Also like LBB did not change with an airport name change from Lubbock Municipal Airport to Lubbock International Airport.

I keep this tidbit in a little box in the back of my brain when I need to answer seemingly unanswerable trivia questions. (Along with who is the guy on the tails of Alaska Air aircraft? A: Charlie McDonald, an Inuit guide who guided the Army Engineers Corps through the wilderness when they built the ALCAN highway.)

Potomac - I thought I was going a little senile then, as I've flown there twice already - and my luggage arrived!

However, with Expedia it would have gone to Rhodes (Europe), but Travelocity would have sent it to Days Inn, CO.

Geoff M.

Shame about this one:
PUY - "poo-ey!" - is really a nice place though!

Also remember the IATA city codes too:

LON - London
NYC - New York
CHI - Chicago
PAR - Paris
TOK - Tokyo
MOS - Moscow

and so on.....

Mark

MSY used to me Mosiant International Airport (MS) and the Y was used like Airsicknessbag explained in a post above.

Dallas Love Field

LUV

I wonder how that 3 letter code came about. Who named it?

StarCruiser forgot my favorate..

SFO-San Francisco

and my hometown..

PWM-Portland, ME

I am intrigued like Starcruiser, why do Canadian airports start with a 'Y'? Does anybody know?

Try this site:

http://www.skygod.com/asstd/abc.html

It makes sense out of a lot of airport codes.

Hope this helps.

Don't forget RDU: Raleigh-Durham

>>>Dallas Love Field
>>>LUV
>>>I wonder how that 3 letter code came about. Who named it?

Nobody.. Dallas Love is DAL...

LUV is the NYSE ticker symbol for Southwest Airlines, who flies from their HQ in DAL...

I am intrigued like Starcruiser, why do Canadian airports start with a 'Y'? Does anybody know?

its been discussed, try searching.

short version:

they DONT all start with Y, some are X or Z.

it comes from radio weather station identifiers in the good ole days.

RIC - RIChmond Intl.
and I've always wondered...
YYZ, is that where RUSH got the name for the song?

True, SY / KMSY), USA - Louisiana">MSY stands for Moisant Stock Yards. But it the stock yards were named for an aviator killed on the site. Here's the history-

Before the airport was built, an early aviation pioneer crashed a small plane on the property--John Moisant. John was born in 1868 in Kankakee, IL. His death in a crash on what was then a Harahan Plantation occurred while he was preparing to try for a new world's record for sustained flight. After the crash, the property was turned into stock yards for cattle and named after him--Moisant Stock Yards. Then the airport was built on the same site. Since most residents knew where Moisant Stock Yards were located, the name was used as the first identifier for the airport. The original name of the airport was Moisant Field. The name was changed to New Orleans International Airport, but the identifier stayed the same since it is extremely difficult to change the airports identifier in all of the publications.
********************************************************
"The man behind the SY / KMSY), USA - Louisiana">MSY" From the Times Picayune, April 9, 2000

If it's New Orleans International Airport, why in the world do the luggage tags say SY / KMSY), USA - Louisiana">MSY?

Old-timers shrug. They know the "M" on this one: The airport was named after John Bevins Moisant. But reports differ on the life and death of this pioneer pilot who was born in Kankakee, Ill., and grew up in Chicago, San Francisco and Central America.

In the last five months of 1910 just seven years after Wilbur and Orville Wright's first flight at Kitty Hawk, N.C., Moisant gained worldwide fame as daredevil aviator. According to a 1985 Smithsonian Magazine article, Moisant flew the first passenger across the city of Paris (the passenger was a more experience French pilot, who shouted directions to the brash American); he piloted the first flight of 230 miles from Paris to London; and he buzzed his plane around the Statue of Liberty in New York after winning a race there.

He and other aviators--tagged the "birdmen" by the international press--gave air shows in Richmond, VA., Chattanooga and Memphis, Tenn.; Tupelo, Miss., and New Orleans.

The late December air show in New Orleans included several competitions. In one account, Moisant raced his pane against an automobile--and lost. The main event, though, was the Michelin cup, which promised a $4,000 prize to the pilot who stayed in the air the longest.

According to Smithsonian Magazine, accompanied by Paris-London, a tabby kitten he had been given in England, took off from City Park. As usual, the adventurous pilot had not used his seat belt. A few minutes later, 30 to 40 feet off the ground, the plane hit turbulence as he tried to land in a practice field at Harahan Plantation, a few miles from the current site of the airport.

Moisant, 37, broke his neck and died shortly afterward on a train rushing him into the city, according to The Times-Democrat newspaper of Jan. 1, 1911. Hew was buried in Metairie Cemetery.

Several articles say that Moisant broke a world record by flying over New Orleans for 46 minutes and 10 seconds.

The Smithsonian reports the crash occurred the day of the Michelin competition. Perhaps the explanation is that Moisant flew 46 minutes and 10 seconds before the crash.

Regardless of the specific details of the competition, his death in New Orleans caused such profound reactions that in 1941 Mayor Robert Maestri announced that the new Kenner airport would be name for Moisant. In 1949 it was the third busiest airport in the country, after Miami and New York. It was renamed New Orleans International Airport in 1962, but the SY / KMSY), USA - Louisiana">MSY remained.

As for the SY, the late New Orleans historian Leonard Humber reported that it stands for stockyards, because the airport once was a pasture for cows. An airport spokeswoman said she too believes that is the explanation.

SY / KMSY), USA - Louisiana">MSY - Moisant Stock Yards. So now you know. "

For 3-letter places who codes were already taken :-

Goa, India is GOI
"GOA" is Genoa/Genova, Italy

Sal, Cape Verde -> SID
"SAL" is San Salvador, El Salvador


World of Tui :
Also remember the IATA city codes too:
TOK - Tokyo
MOS - Moscow

correction :
TYO - Tokyo
MOW - Moscow

TOK & MOS are totally different cities

I also found it interesting that U.S. no civilian airport has a three letter code beginning with "N". Like, EWR=Newark. Why? Because the identifiers beginning with "N" were reserved for NAVY airfields.

As far as I know, cities also have codes beyond the airport:
NYC: New York
SAO: Sao Paulo
CHI: Chicago
BUE: Buenos Aires
PAR: Paris
ROM: Rome

Im I right? why none of their airports use that more obvious codes?

)(

Av8trxx I think we will a similar situation why civilian airports don't have a 'K' as the start of their identifier - because of the universal identifier for US airports - like KLAX, KJFK.... Does anyone know what that more formal name for the airport is called? (the K name?) B4