It doesn’t take much imagination to understand why DEN is the IATA abbreviation for the Denver airport, but the abbreviation MCO for the Orlando airport is more of a head scratcher.
Here is a list of the busiest airports in the US along with a brief indication of the reason behind their abbreviations. Some require more explanation, given below.
- ATL Hartsfield–Jackson ATLanta International Airport
- LAX Los Angeles International Airport (*)
- ORD Chicago O’Hare International Airport, formerly ORchardD Field Airport
- DFW Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport
- DEN DENver International Airport
- JFK John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York
- SFO San FranciscO International Airport
- SEA SEAttle-Tacoma International Airport
- MCO Orlando International Airport, formerly McCOy Air Force Base
- LAS Harry Reid International Airport in LAS Vegas
- CLT CharLoTte-Douglas International Airport
- EWR NEWaRk Liberty International Airport (*)
- PHX PHoeniX Sky Harbor International Airport
- IAH George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston (*)
- MIA MIAmi International Airport
- BOS BOSton Logan International Airport
- MSP Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport
- DTW DeTroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport
- FLL Fort Lauderdale-HoLLywood International Airport
- PHL PHiLadelphia International Airport
- LGA New York LaGuardia Airport
- BWI Baltimore/Washington International Airport
- SLC Salt Lake City International Airport
- SAN SAN Diego International Airport
- IAD Washington Dulles International Airport, named after John Foster Dulles (*)
- DCA Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington DC
- TPA TamPA International Airport
- MDW Chicago MiDWay International Airport
The Los Angeles airport was originally abbreviated LA. When airports switched to 3-letter abbreviations in 1930, an X was added simply to pad LA to three letters.
In the United States, the initial letter N is reserved for the Navy, and so Newark airport is EWR rather than NEW. The initial letters W and K are also reserved to avoid confusion with radio stations, and initial Q is reserved to avoid confusion with Q codes.
Dulles was originally DIA, but was changed to IAD to avoid confusion with DCA.
Houston’s largest airport, IAH, has an awkward name because the name HOU was already assigned to the older Hobby Airport.
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Photo by Ronny Siegel from Pexels
> In the United States, the initial letter N is reserved for the Navy, and so Newark airport is EWR rather than NEW. The initial letters W and K are also reserved to avoid confusion with radio stations
This should probably read “in the continental United States”, as most Alaskan airports start with either an N or a K in their code.
Thanks, I didn’t know that.
My understanding is that there are exceptions for small airports, and I imagine most airports in Alaska are small.
BTW. @CGPGrey most recent video on YouTube is “✈️ The Maddening Mess of Airport Codes! ✈️” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfOUVYQnuhw