And don't forget that there are two ways to describe airports. There are the IATA codes that we commonly use here on FT, such as SYD, MEL, BNE, LAX, DFW, ORD, LHR, SIN etc. And there are the ICAO codes that are four letter.

The airlines use the IATA codes when issuing tickets and baggage tags/receipts etc. However, pilots generally use the ICAO codes when refering to airports. The ICAO codes were designed to be much less vague and easier to identify where an airport is.

With the ICAO codes, all australian airports begin with Y. The second letter of Australian ports identifies the major ATC centre for the airport, so any airport under Sydney ATC is YSxx, anything under Perth ATC control is YPxx etc. The last two letters reflect the actual name of the airport.

Most US ports just add a "K" to the start of their IATA code. European ports start with E or L, followed by a country descriptor letter, then two letter name.

Here is a list of some of the common Australian (and some overseas) airport codes:

ABX - YMAY - Albury
ADL - YPAD - Adelaide
AKL - NZAA - Auckland
ASP - YBAS - Alice Springs
AYQ - YAYE - Ayers Rock
BME - YPBR - Broome
BNE - YBBN - Brisbane
CBR - YSCB - Canberra
CDG - LFPG - Paris Charles De Gaulle
CGK - WIII - Jakarta
CNS - YBCS - Cairns
DRW - YPDN - Darwin
EDI - EGPH - Edinburgh
FCO - LIRF - Rome
FRA - EDDF - Frankfurt
HEL - EFHK - Helsinki
HKG - VHHH - Hong Kong
LCY - EGLC - London City
LGW - EGKK - London Gatwick
LHR - EGLL - London Heathrow
LST - YMLT - Launceston
MAN - EGCC - Manchester
NRT - RJAA - Tokyo Narita
OOL - YBGC - Coolangatta
ORY - LIPO - Paris Orly
PER - YPPH - Perth
ROK - YBRK - Rockhampton
YVR - CYVR - Vancouva
YYZ - CYYZ - Toronto