MilesBuzz! - Where did some airport codes come from?

Here's an interesting topic- What is the origination of some 3-letter airport codes that appear to have more to it than just the city name? I know some of these, but not most:

GEG Spokane
MSY New Orleans
IAD Washington-Dulles
MCO Orlando
MCI Kansas City
BNA Nashville
ORD Chicago-O'Hare
EZE Buenos Aires
OGG Kahului
SDF Louisville
BDL Hartford
FCO Rome
GRU Sao Paulo
RSW Ft. Myers
MDT Harrisburg

and who banished all Canadian cities to have codes starting with Y?

MCO - McCoy Field, the old airport name before Disney. Was just a couple of quanset huts at the end of the runway (FedEx uses them now). Now called Orlando International, but the MCO still sticks.

[This message has been edited by PremEx (edited 04-18-99).]

ORD-Orchard Field (previous name for O'Hare)

OGG-Named after some guy with the last name of Hogg although I forget who he was I believe he was a WWII hero.

IAD-International Airport Dulles

GRU = Aeroporto Internacional de Guarulhos

For a list of airport codes, check this url:

http://www.cowtown.net/users/rcr/aaa/ccmain.htm


[This message has been edited by timchen (edited 04-19-99).]

BDL - Bradley International Airport of Hartford

FCO - The airport name of Rome, starting with the word F...... (forgot how to spell it)

I can't speak for some of the other names but Canada's codes came from the two-letter codes of railway cities. Canadian Pacific Railways had codes for all their respective cities which had a railway stop. The Y was added for commonality so as to be distinctly Canadian. (It is not to what some people may think that Canada was the last one in the race and ran out of city codes to use).

Toronto - TO (Toronto, Ontario) : YTO
Montreal - MQ (Montreal, Quebec) : YMQ
Vancouver - VR (VancouveR) : YVR


Only after when each city built more than one airport, did the names dispensed. But that's all I know, I'm afraid!

Hi Celestar ,...

what about Halifax Int'l (YHZ) ... where does the Z come from ???? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif


MMM

ps: by the way EZE = EZEIZA,... the name of Buenos Aires Int'l airport in Argentina

[This message has been edited by MMM (edited 04-19-99).]

[This message has been edited by MMM (edited 04-19-99).]

BNA - Berry field Nashville Airport

Also, not on your list was TYS - Knoxville

This is for Tyson Field.

MCI in K. C. is Mid-Continent International.

SDF in Louisville is Standiford, not sure whether that's the current or a former airport (not sure of the spelling either).

VPS = Ft. Walton Beach, FL. The airport is actually closer to a smaller, neighboring city, Valparaiso, FL.

FCO = Fiumicino (Rome)

I like

SGN = Ho Chi Minh City (ex Saigon)
LED = St. Petersburg (ex Leningrad)
PEK = Beijing (Peking)


Which just goes to show that politics and city names may change but IATA stays the same.

MSY = Moisant Int'l. (I'm not sure about the Y at the end, but it does make sense to me when you say it out loud...)

[This message has been edited by Matt Wald (edited 04-19-99).]

Try also SVO for Moscow, Russia (I believe based on Sheremetyevo, to distinguish it from the other Moscow airports, Vnukovo and Domedovo).

MCO (Orlando) used to be McCoy Air Force Base (formerly Pinecastle AFB, after the nearby little town). It was named after USAF Col. Michael McCoy.

RSW (Ft. Myers) was named after the airport, Greater Southwest Regional. Since there was already a code for SWR, the R was placed in front of SW.



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AlphaSigOU
Causa latet vis est notissima - the cause is hidden, the results are well-known.

KIN- Kingston, Jamaica
MBJ- Montego Bay, Jamaica

These are easy!

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MDT -- Harrisburg International Airport, however it's in Middletown, PA, and I believe MDT is for Middletown Dept of Transportation, which operates or used to, as they are forming a regional airport authority.

My favorite:

SUX = Sioux City, IA (If you've ever been there, the airport name is no surprise).

Cheers,

'toad

I thought BNA stood for Better Nashville Airport?

IAH International Airport Houston, now known as George Bush IAH, as opposed to the original Houston Airport
HOU Houston Hobby

>Which just goes to show that politics and city names may change but IATA stays the same.

Except, of course, for JFK

You know, it's only a matter of time before airport authorities sell a name to a corporation just like a ballpark or golf tournament. Then you could have airport codes matching stock tickers. Think of it, AOL- The America On-Line San Francisco International Airport. That would get Silicon Valley-ites going!

Then you could think of selling a name to an airline: The Delta Cincinnati Int'l Airport. Now that would get the feds thinking about monopolies here and there....

P.S. What was JFK's code/name before it was renamed for Kennedy? Idlewild, was it?

Wasen't Denver's new airport DIA at the beginning? (Denver International Airport)

I have often wondered how Sioux Gateway Airport got its name given its proximity to a leading computer production center.

One airport code that I have always found appealing is FUN, for Funafuti on Tuvalua. How often does a flight end in FUN?

FAT....Fresno Air Terminal

>What was JFK's code/name before it was renamed for Kennedy? Idlewild, was it?

Yep, Idlewild. IDW, I think, but I'm not certain. It sticks in the back of my mind I once had a luggage tag that read NYC.

C'mon - Someone here's got to be older than me!

I remember it being referred to as DIA but don't remember if that was the code. Of course now it is the same as Stapleton's was.

[This message has been edited by JeffS (edited 04-20-99).]

MSY in New Orleans stands for Moisant Stock Yard, which is what it was before it was an airport.

The old airport code for the old New York International Airport (Idlewild) used to be IDL. After President Kennedy's assassination in 1963 the airport and identifier were named after him.

IDL still soldiers on... it's now the airport identifier for Indianola, Mississippi.

When Washington Dulles was being built, it was planned that the identifier was to be DIA; as you can see it would have caused massive confusion with National Airport, whose code is DCA, That's why it's now IAD.

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AlphaSigOU
Causa latet vis est notissima - the cause is hidden, the results are well-known.



[This message has been edited by AlphaSigOU (edited 04-20-99).]

I always assumed that the X at the end (i.e. PDX) indicated international airport.

Is that true or just something I imagined one day and thereafter believed to be true?

CVG for Cincinnati - because it's really across the river in CoVinGton, Ohio.

Does anybody know why Nantucket, Mass., is ACK? Random letters from the town name?

100K:
But AOL is in Northern Virginia. They'd never sponsor a west coast airport. Would they?

Counsellor: I'm probably older than you, and I agree with AlphaSigOU that it used to be IDL. This is sort of like BWI. Back in the '60s, this was Friendship International (I don't remember what the code was); then the state of Maryland bought the place and renamed it. As a part of the process, they petitioned the FAA (or whoever assigns codes) to change the code to BWI. No matter how much it cost them, it's paid off.

Well... they could re-name IAD for AOL... (Sacrilege!) http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Here's a bit of useless trivia: what is the other official name for Miami International Airport (MIA)? Wilcox Field. (You have to really look for the sign -- it's right next to the sign on the main terminal building.)

The old code for Baltimore's old Friendship airport probably was BAL, though I'm not sure about that.

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AlphaSigOU
Causa latet vis est notissima - the cause is hidden, the results are well-known.



[This message has been edited by AlphaSigOU (edited 04-20-99).]

Great thread. Here's one I haven't been able to figure out:

What does "HP", America West's airline code, stand for?

I have asked several HP personnel and no one has known.

HP is the IATA-assigned code for America West; is doesn't stand for anything. Southwest's IATA code is WN and also doesn't stand for anything.

OMNI: The last one or two letters in an aircraft's registration number are sometimes reserved for airlines. Examples:

SW, WN - Southwest
DL, DA, DE, DN, WA - Delta (WA - ex-Western Airlines aircraft)
U, UA - United
AA - American
US, RC - Northwest (RC - ex-Republic Airlines aircraft)
AU - US Airways (from the former airline code of Allegheny Airlines)
TW - Trans World Airlines
HK - Trans States Airlines (the initials are of the owner - Hulas Kanodia)

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AlphaSigOU
Causa latet vis est notissima - the cause is hidden, the results are well-known.


[This message has been edited by AlphaSigOU (edited 04-20-99).]

That reminds me of another--

HPN is in WHite PlaiNs, New York

FYI:

CVG is in Covington, KENTUCKY not OHIO.

I like HTS for Huntington/Ashland.
I think it stands for Huntington TriState.

And with this post I become a full fledged
member, with all the perks and benefits!

[This message has been edited by akperry (edited 04-20-99).]

yeah, akperry

I was just kidding about corporate sponsorships of airlines. It's tough to imagine quasi-government entities getting commercial that way, although the airport-using crowd is attractive from a demographic standpoint.

No one knows why Spokane is GEG? I didn't know either; I actually looked at a roadmap- A road that runs by Spokane Int'l Airport is Geiger Blvd., which was probably the name of the neighborhood or airport before it was renamed.

alphasigOU:
You're right, it WAS BAL. I remember now. (The WAS doesn't stand for Washington. It's "Was".)

Guangzhou, Funafuti Atol, Bereina, Singapore? Novato, Heraklion, Encarnacion!!

www.iata.org/codes/index.htm (http://www.iata.org/codes/index.htm)

helps solve it ...



[This message has been edited by Austman (edited 04-22-99).]

Why is there not a DOA?

Location code: DOA
City: Doany
Country: Madagascar
Country code:MG

Merry flys to DOA all the time! See the thread:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum71/HTML/000249.html

It could work because the first three letters are of the city's name.

I have not been to Madagascar so I don't think people go there to D-O-A.

Now what the world needs is an airport with the initials C-A-T! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Thanks, skperry. Of course it's in Kentucky. Cinci is in Ohio, and the river is the state line. Slip of the finger. Sorry about that! (And I've actually been there for more than just changing planes on Delta.)

Agree with the CATMAN, we should have a CAT airport and a DOG one too!

My buddy, Chuck, from Spokane says that GEG is for Geiger Field. According to him, both the field and the road were named for some WWII Airforce officer named what else---Geiger.

Location code: CAT
City: Cat Island
Country: Bahamas
Country code: BS


Location code: DOG
City: Dongola
Country: Sudan
Country code: SD

Maybe CATMAN's been to the first one?

Austman is awesome man!

Denver was DIA, Denver International Airport, But I don't remember what the code was. DEN I think. How quickly we forget.

Wasn't "DEN" the old Stapleton airport?

DEN was probably the old Stapleton airport now dust.

Now I wonder who the primary residents of CAT ISLAND are... I really want to go here!!!

If the Governor of Minnesota flies from Teresina, Brazil to Bordeau, France, his routing would be "THE-BOD"

Saw this one the other day:

POS - Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago

Celestar is not quite right on the Canadian codes.

All airports actually have a four character code, for navigation use. The first two letters are national designators.

For example, Narita is RJAA, Kansai is RJBB. Chep Lap Kok took over Kai Tak's VHHH. (Notice the VH is consistent with CX's aircraft registrations, VH-xxx?)

In the US, most commercial airports share their three letter designator--so JFK is KJFK, LAX is KLAX, etc.

In Canada, all designators begin with C. When designations were assigned, oh so many years ago, fields with control towers were given the designator Y, fields without towers were issued Z's. So Canadian fields are generally CYxx or CZxx. When the time came to assign IATA designations, we just dropped the 'C'.

Early on, some of the final two letter combinations were meant to be descriptive. Hence, airports like YVR, YOW, YSJ, YFC and YQB are easy to decipher.

However, many of today's airports have been built on fields which post date the initial assignments. Dorval (YUL) was not a commercial field until after the war, prior to which St.-Hubert (YHU) was the principal airfield for Montreal. YHZ was not built until the 50's, replacing CFB Shearwater. In a lot of cases, the most obvious designators were already assigned.

Many commercial airfields use Qx or Yx for their designators--YQM (Moncton), YQY (Charlottetown) etc. and YYZ (Pearson), YYC (Calgary) YYJ (Sidney-Victoria BC), YYT (Torbay, St. John's).

This is, again, an older convention which was used to distinguish the larger (Y) fields from the smaller (Q) fields.

See http://www.skygod.com . There's an article on there explaining some names.

I'm still amused by Souix City. SUX. Never been there, and the airport code isn't exactly encouraging...

I always figured MCO was Disney-related. Mickey COuntry. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Actually, an international airport is about the only thing they DON'T own these days...

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"I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own."

Originally posted by 100K:
I was just kidding about corporate sponsorships of airlines. It's tough to imagine quasi-government entities getting commercial that way, although the airport-using crowd is attractive from a demographic standpoint.

No one knows why Spokane is GEG? I didn't know either; I actually looked at a roadmap- A road that runs by Spokane Int'l Airport is Geiger Blvd., which was probably the name of the neighborhood or airport before it was renamed.

I believe the "official" name of the aerodrome is "Geiger Field". There is a notation to that effect on the approach plates for Spokane. Named for a military aviator, if memory serves. I will look it up when I fly for "Uncle" next week.

Oops! Sorry, punki. I went back and finished reading the thread after my first post. My bad. Confirms my suspicions, however.

Originally posted by Efrem:
[B]CVG for Cincinnati - because it's really across the river in CoVinGton, Ohio.

B]

Actually, it's Covington, Kentucky.

GEG in Spokane is GEiGer Field, the official name of the airport.

Similar thread yields this website:http://www.faa.gov/aircodeinfo.htm

Originally posted by Efrem:
CVG for Cincinnati - because it's really across the river in CoVinGton, Ohio.

Does anybody know why Nantucket, Mass., is ACK? Random letters from the town name?

CVG is from Covington, KY which is directly across river from Cincinnati, OH

CVG-the symbol for Cincinnati, OH airport stands for Covington, KY which is the city located directly across the river from Cincinnati, OH. The Cincinnati, OH airport is really in Kentucky.

Originally posted by silverpie:
MCI in K. C. is Mid-Continent International.

SDF in Louisville is Standiford, not sure whether that's the current or a former airport (not sure of the spelling either).

The Louisville, KY airport was originally called Standiford Field. I don't know where the name originally came from.

Originally posted by AC*SE:

For example, Narita is RJAA, Kansai is RJBB. Chep Lap Kok took over Kai Tak's VHHH. (Notice the VH is consistent with CX's aircraft registrations, VH-xxx?)


Times are changing here. I noticed a few CX a/c (not the leased A-340s from CA) that are registered as B-XXXX

GIG - Rio de Janeiro - maybe from Galeão, the name of the island where the airport is located

I have NOT been to CAT austman but maybe someone can join me there sometime.

In fact I have NEVER been to the Bahamas.

Maybe an F-T do in the Caribbean sometime.

With so many people non-industry people making flight reservations, I think it is time they expand the current 3-letter airport code.

1 character for type of airport(muni, military, national, international)
2 characters for country
3 characters for a metro abreviation, with a preference for using the 1st 3 characters of 1st character of each word if multi-word name.

Would be easier to translate airport code. Sure I know what MSY, IAD, FAT, and CAK is, but the average unfrequent flyer doesn't.

I've posted this elsewhere as well, but speaking of translating codes, even the most accomplished FFers amongst us might have trouble keeping up with all the airport codes that get bandied about on this board.

I've got an alternative to popping open one of any number of websites and typing in the code to determine what airport is being discussed.

Based on the ual.com website, I compiled all the codes together into a Text file, so that I have the all codes accessible at all times on my computer.

In addition, having a file containing all the data in one place (Airport Code, City, Country, Airport Name) allows more sophisticated searches on any possible string contained in the data. For instance, UAL’s online search requires a full City Name or Airport Name; using the file on my computer allows partial name searches.

If anyone’s interested in a copy of the file in just drop me an email.

I scanned through this briefly, but didn't see the "answer" to this trivia, so here goes. Denver International's inital code designation was DVX. DEN was shifted from Stapleton to the new airport (as a "coveted item") as they didn't both operate at the same time. "DIA" does not exist as a Denver Airport, code-wise anyway. In fact, DIA isn't used anywhere.

Actually, you'll find that Cincinnati's airport's full name is "The Cincinnati/ Northern Kentucky International Airport". As has been said many times in this thread, the airport lies in Covington, KY, just across the river from Cincinnati.

As a side note, TPA is often referred to locally in the news as TIA, for Tampa International Airport. I imagine DIA is used similarly in Denver, hence the throwing about of that incorrect code.

Hey SRQ ... where did the Q is SRQ come from?

Once upon a time I remember reading about a guy that is the "keeper" of airport codes and is the recognized expert at same. I vaguely remember reference to a website, but it has been so long I can't recall the url. Anyone help me here? As I remember, it was a very interesting thread to research. I think the original spark to my querry was an article in American Way mag.

Does this help? Many explanations here.
http://www.skygod.com/asstd/abc.html

Jim

Originally posted by Eastbay1K:
Denver International's inital code designation was DVX. DEN was shifted from Stapleton to the new airport (as a "coveted item") as they didn't both operate at the same time. "DIA" does not exist as a Denver Airport, code-wise anyway. In fact, DIA isn't used anywhere.

I seem to remember reading that, as the current airport neared completion, the decision to "transfer" the DEN designation was based, in part, on a desire to demonstrate in a symbolic manner that Stapleton would completely cease commercial operations upon the opening of the new facility.

Also, when the Fresno Air Terminal was formally renamed "Fresno Yosemite International", wasn't there a move afoot to change the code to FYI? (Shameful Disclaimer: I was born and raised within 5 miles of FAT/FYI .....)