ORD, JFK, SFO, AXA…where do those
ORD, JFK, SFO, AXA…where do those airport codes come from anyway?.
Advertise here with Carbon Ads
This site is made possible by member support. ❤️
Big thanks to Arcustech for hosting the site and offering amazing tech support.
When you buy through links on kottke.org, I may earn an affiliate commission. Thanks for supporting the site!
kottke.org. home of fine hypertext products since 1998.
Reader comments
AdamMar 19, 2004 at 8:18PM
Without attribution, yet! ; . )
JordonMar 20, 2004 at 11:35PM
Then there are the lousy and apparently random Canadian codes where most but not all start with Y. Lots of contradictory opinions here :: http://www.airlinequality.com/Interact/Q1_J00135.htm
ericMar 21, 2004 at 8:33PM
Interestingly enough, American codes all start with K. The difference is, in Canada it looks like they don't drop the Y, whereas in America the K is ignored in general.
Thus, Sea-Tac (SEA) is actually KSEA; Paine Field (PAE) is KPAE, San Francisco (SFO) is actually KSFO, etc.
There are so many airports in America, however, that most of the smaller ones don't have descriptive abbreviations. Jefferson County, for instance, is 0S9, while Langley is W10. Not that most (if any) of you all care. :D
This thread is closed to new comments. Thanks to everyone who responded.