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August 16, 2007
cracking the airport codes
i've got a lull now between finishing this last grueling job and taking off to Atlanta for some family frolicking -- T.T. and i will be visiting my parents & sister for two weeks. i can't say i'm excited to get back on a plane -- there was quite a bit of last-minute flying on the job and playing airport roulette (you win: you arrive at your destination vaguely on time. you lose: delays, getting bumped, no food, unbelievable rudeness factor, winding up hundreds of miles away from your destination, etc.) is not exactly fun.
because i am such a nerd -- and was bored with all that roulette-related waiting -- i began to wonder why it was that the airport i was currently stuck in was called ORD, when it clearly is known as Chicago-O'Hare. O'Hare Really Dicey? Only Rotten Delays? for that matter, why is Orange County's John Wayne airport SNA? and since when has X stood for International as in Los Angeles International Airport, LAX?
so i must share with you this brilliantly written article that explains it all: "Airport ABCs: An Explanation of Airport Identifier Codes," originally published in a journal for airline pilots. not only is the mystery of ORD explained (it started as an airstrip called Orchard Field), but it also clears up the stumper of why Washington, D.C.'s Dulles airport uses IAD.
anyway, hopefully i'll have a few more posts in me before heading out to ATL (no guessing needed there).
Posted by hadashi at August 16, 2007 3:23 PM
Comments
Way before it was ever named the John Wayne Airport (in the 1970s or 80s), it was the Santa Ana Airport.
Posted by: Ms. Jen 
at August 18, 2007 4:15 PM
yes, exactly. and apparently the X is because when the regulation was passed that all codes had to be three letters, the two-letter "LA" just got an X tacked on. according to the LAX website, "the letter X does not otherwise have any specific meaning in this identifier." boring, uncreative people!
Posted by: hadashi at August 18, 2007 4:28 PM
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