Originally Posted by JK-SFO
I don't know for sure if this is correct - does someone else? Wasn't the airport code for the newly renamed John F. Kennedy Airport originally KIA (Kennedy International Airport)? This was then changed to JFK because of the association of KIA with "Killed in Action" during the Vietnam war. Thanks!
JK-SFO
The history of JFK -
http://encycl.opentopia.com/term/Joh...tional_Airport - has no mention of KIA.
"July 1, 1948 was the date the airport saw its first commercial flight. It was dedicated as New York International Airport on July 31 of that same year, although the name "Idlewild" remained in common use and the airport's IATA code was IDL.
On December 24th, 1963, it was renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport to honor the memory of the late President John F. Kennedy, and hence received the new IATA airport code of JFK."
FWIW, KIA = Kaiapit, Papua New Guinea
Also see
http://www.skygod.com/asstd/abc.html and
http://www.world-airport-codes.com/
There was an article in USAToday just this week, I think, that had some of this info, including the JFK story. Most of us probably know most of what was in the article, but I did learn the EWR is used because codes starting with 'N' are reserved for US Naval airstations, at least according to the article.