Airport codes are an enigma. We see them constantly but only know what about half of them mean.
Why New Orleans’ airport is MSY — and other airport code mysteries, explained
Phil Edwards was a senior producer for the Vox video team.
You might know ATL stands for Atlanta, but can you identify the cities for BDL, MSY, and SNA? (If you’re curious, they’re the codes for airports in Hartford, Connecticut; New Orleans, Louisiana; and Orange County, California.)
Now there’s an easy way to find out what airport codes actually mean. Developers Lynn Fisher and Nick Crohn have created Airport Codes, a site where you can read about (and submit) your own decoding of airport codes. The highlights are the codes that don’t match up with their cities:
- EWR (Newark): Newark is called EWR because the Navy reserved all the codes that begin with “N.”
- PDX (Portland): Why do some airport codes have an X at the end? Portland’s is an illustrative case: when airport codes switched from two to three letters in the 1930s, some cities that already had airport codes added an X to the end as a quick fix. Portland started as PD, and then added X. Some, like San Francisco’s airport, added other letters (which is why its code is SFO).
- YVR (Vancouver): Canadian airport codes start with a “Y”, which is why Vancouver has one before the more predictable VR.
- PEK (Beijing): Sometimes airport codes are historical artifacts. PEK refers to an older, English name used for Beijing, Peking. Similarly, Mumbai’s airport code is BOM, a reference to its former English name, Bombay.
- Sometimes the reasons are particular to an airport. BDL, Hartford’s airport, is named for US Air Force Lieutenant Eugene M. Bradley. MSY in New Orleans is named for Louis Armstrong today, but it used to be named for aviator John Moisant and the Moisant Stock Yards. Finally, SNA, John Wayne International Airport, is named for its mailing address in Santa Ana.
Three-letter airport codes came about because pilots found the National Weather System’s two-letter codes inadequate to identify all the available airports. Today, airport codes are called International Air Transport Association Airport Codes (IATA) and are established by the airline trade association, founded in the 1940s.
You can visit the site for beautiful, common codes, or see a more comprehensive list here.
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