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3 Letter Airport Codes – their history, funny ones and more

Jeremy B
Shows lots of airport codes plus airplane and text saying: 3 Letter Airport Codes - History and more

Curious what those 3 letter airport codes mean? JFK, MSP, YAK, SNA, ORD. Gibberish? No, they have a purpose and a meaning. In this article we are talking 3 letter airport codes and all will be revealed including what are they, how are they used and where they came from. Plus we share some funny ones and I give you a list of all the ones I’ve  been to.

What are 3 Letter Airport Codes & How are they used?

Let’s start with the basics. Every airport has a 3 letter identifying code known as an IATA code.

In case you didn’t know, IATA stands for the International Air Transit Association. IATA is an international independent association focused primarily on aviation safety, but also the simplification of the airline business, airline security, and as of late, the environment.

This consortium of airline industry companies helps create standards and policies that would be beneficial for the broader industry.

They also are the entity responsible for all of those airport codes and publish a directory known as the Airline Coding Directory that contains all of the airport codes presently in service.

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History of 3 Letter Airport Codes

Airport Codes were born out of convenience as pilots and airline staff tried to keep track of the many airports popping up. By implementing a unified, simple and easy to remember system, airline, pilots and even passengers could quickly know what location the airport code referred to.

Needing something simple, memorable and that could easily fit into computer systems was important. Apparently, 2 letter airport codes were used first, but this was largely unmanageable.

Thus 3 letter airport codes were implemented allowing (mathematically) for over 17,000 different configurations (or airports).

The rest was was history.

The travel industry writ began to use these beyond just pilots. Soon baggage handling systems, boarding passes and more began to leverage these 3 letter airport codes to simply conduct daily business.

Note: Savvy business travelers will have many of these memorized and will smugly test their fellow travelers or post the airport code on Facebook informing their network of what glamorous locale they are visiting that week (I can neither confirm or deny I’ve done this…haha).

How are Airport Codes chosen?

It’s funny right? Some airport codes totally make sense. Like BOS for Boston. Ok, we totally get that. Or ONT for Ontario, CA and DFW for Dallas Fort Worth Airport.

But what about ORD for O’Hare? Or Los Angeles’ LAX? Orange County’s SNA? Yikes! How are those airport codes chosen?

Well, IATA’s preference is that the code reflect the first three letters of the cities name (hence BOS = Boston). But, you have to remember it was kind of the wild west back in the early days of aviation. Airports popped up and went away. Airlines came and went. The aviation industry was still in quite a bit of flux at the time.

For example, John Wayne Airport, in Orange County used to be named Orange County Airport. However, it’s code is SNA. What gives? Well, the airport was situated in sort of a no-mans land long ago and the town of Santa Ana was the best town to be affiliated with the airport. So, SNA comes from Santa Ana.

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ORD in Chicago? ORD used to be called Old Orchard Airport, hence the IATA Code ORD. Then you have places like MCO in Orlando that came from the name of the old airbase McCoy Airbase. Or IAD, which is Dulles International Airport – what what? Yeah, they codes are transposed due to confusion with nearby Ronald Reagan Airport, or DCA.

BNA? The original Nashville airport was called Berry Field, but later when a brand new airport replaced it, BNA stuck.

Why do some airports have X’s in their airport codes?

Early on there were many airports that only had two letter codes. Places like Los Angeles, Portland and Phoenix. Adding an X to the end of the code allowed them to be compliant with the IATA nomenclature and we forever now know these airports at LAX, PDX and PHX (although PHX kinda worked out didn’t it…lol).

Here’s a link to a full list of Airport Codes: https://airportcod.es/

Funny Airport Codes & Interesting Airport Codes

With 17,000 or so permutations, not to mention the variety of city names, there’s bound to be some funny or interesting 3 letter airport codes. Here’s a few gems:

Airport Codes I wish existed

Just saying…

Other interesting facts about 3 Letter Airport Codes

Airport Code Art, Gifts and Merch

There are some cool things people have done with airport codes and they make cool gifts (via affiliate links). Check it…

The Airports and Airport Codes I’ve been to!

So, here’s an ever growing list of Airport Codes that I personally have been to over the years – not inclusive – with a occasional commentary about the AP, or the visit to the area. My fav’s are highlighted in blue.

I will keep adding to this list…I did a quick check and w/ the exception of Honolulu AP I’ve been to every single one of the 30 largest airports in the US, and numerous other regional or smaller ones. 89 so far, but that feels light. I will keep adding ’em.

How about you? Do you have some favorite airport codes? Join the conversation and share your favorite airports and of course their 3 letter airport code. Don’t forget to check out my list of airports that I’ve yet to hit, below:

Here’s a few airports I’ve YET to fly in/out/through.

Think of it as my Airport bucket list (or airport codes bucket list). LOL…so sad.

The worlds most boring video about airport codes

We found this insanely boring video to help people study airport codes (presumably flight attendants?).

Thanks!

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