Airport codes-how'd they create them?
 

Sometimes I try to guess what airport is being talked about in a post by looking at the code. Many are easy, some are a bit tougher but seem logical and others baffle me so I have to look them up.

PHL, MIA, CLT, SFO, BOS, FRA, LIS, PRG are easy (for me, anyway) and others are a bit more challenging.

I was just wondering how some of these destinations got their code designations. I am sure some are because of their names such as JFK or FCO (Rome) but Douglas International Airport is CLT (Charlotte, NC) not DIA or some other code.

I am just curious as to how these codes came to be.

A very thorough explanation of the entymology of airport codes and other aviation identifiers can be found here.

Well, in the US, you can't have an airport code that starts with an N or W. So, nEWRark, nORFolk, etc.

Chicago O'Hare is ORD because it used to be Orchard Field.

Fresno is FAT = Fresno Air Terminal

For newer airports, there is a guy named Jeffrey at IATA in Montreal who assigns them. He also deals with airline 2-character identifier codes. Nice chap.

What a fascinating read! Thanks for that link. :-:

Sometimes, the English letter spelling of a place may be changed, but the airport code remains a vestige of the old spelling:

PEK = Beijing (Peking)
KWL = Guilin (Kweilin)
BOM = Mumbai (Bombay)

Or the name of the airport changes, but the code references the old name:

ORD = Chicago O'Hare (Orchard Field)
YFB = Iqaluit (Frobisher Bay)
SDA = Bagdad (Saddam Hussein)

Does anyone know why it's called air canada jazz? When I was a kid I thought they played jazz music on the plane =)

You must be really young, because QK is only six years old.

It was created as a consolidated name for the other Air Canada regional routes (Air Nova, Air Ontario, Air BC, etc) after Air Canada bought Canadian.

Not entirely correct I'm afraid, military airfields in the US often times start with N(but not always!), and W seems to be somewhat common as well:

A couple of N's:
NZY - NAS North Island in California
NTU - NAS Oceana in Virginia
NXX - NAS/JRB Willow Grove in Pennsylvania
(there are many more)

Some W's:
WRI - McGwire AFB in New Jersey
WDG - Enid Regional Airport in Oklahoma
WYS - Yellowstone Airport in Montana

Very interesting, thanks! I knew the why for some codes, but lots of good info in that article.

Thanks.... I always wanted to know.

Ns are not prohibited, they are just reserved for use by the Navy. Hence all the Naval Air Stations in your list.

I know of multiple W airports as well, so I can't vouch for the validity of that rule. It could be something they used to block, but now allow. There are far fewer Ks than Ws, and those would have been blocked for the same reason (FCC reserved for radio stations).

MCO (Orlando) comes, IIRC, from its days as McCoy airfield (or air force base, I can't remember). MCI (Kansas City) was once called "Mid-Continent International Airport.

Usually, the code is derived from the name of the city (SAN, LAS, DFW, MEM, PIT, BOS, FRA, MAD, SEA, ANC, HKG, TLV, AMM, CAI are good examples), sometimes from the name of the airport (JFK, LGA, BWI, MDW, BDL, STN, CDG, DME, NRT, PBI, PHF, EZE, GIG), and sometimes from a combination of the two (LHR, LCY, LGW, DTW).

In Canada, most (all?) codes begin with Y - often with little regard for either the airport or city name. Who'd guess that YYZ=Toronto or YYT=St. John's? Some are related, though, like YVR (Vancouver), YWG (Winnipeg), and YYC (Calgary).

Some airport codes take the city or airport name and use another letter, often X, to fill it out: DXB (Dubai), LAX(Los Angeles), PDX (Portland, Oregon), PWM (Portland, ME).

IAH is an acronym for Intercontinental Airport Houston, and IAD is for International Airport Dulles. I have to suspect DCA is for District of Columbia Airport, and the SNA stands for Santa Ana, a city near Orange County Airport.

I always had a hard time remembering Sacramento when I first started working for the airlines SMF, I would have my husband test me on the codes. After on evening with me getting it wrong a few times, his remark made it clear, I would never forget it again.

CAN=Guangzhou

From the old british name Canton.