Three letter combinations gives 263=17576 possible codes. Some airports have multiple codes (ARN = STO, for example). I'm just going to guess that there are more than 17576 airports in the world.
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Airport coding first began in the 1930s, and airlines typically chose their own two-letter codes. By the late 1940s, there were too many airports, and the system shifted to the three-letter code we know today. Los Angeles International Airport, for instance, was originally just “LA,” but became LAX in 1947.
IATA codes consist of 3-alphabetic characters. These codes are assigned and managed by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). IATA location codes are also assigned in some cases to non-airport locations that are connected to air travel, such as train and bus stations.
3 digit airline ticketing codes are the numbers of an airline which the ticket was issued on its stock. This is usually the same airline as the airline which is carrying out the actual flight. For example: Continental Airlines codes: 2-letter code is CO, 3-letter is COA, and the IATA code is 005.
'London's largest airport, Heathrow, is hemmed in by the suburbs and limited to just two runways,' he explains. 'Because it can't expand, the demand for air travel is met by smaller, single-runway airports around the South-East: Gatwick, Stansted, Luton and Southend.
Codes in the range QAA–QNZ are reserved for aeronautical use; QOA–QQZ for maritime use and QRA–QUZ for all services. Q has no official meaning, but it is sometimes assigned a word with mnemonic value, such as Queen for example in QFE: Queen's field elevation, or Query, Question, reQuest.
the letter ''K'' was simply assigned to the contiguous US by ICAO, in order to have a system with unique identifiers for world-wide use, instead of trying to adapt local system to match. The IATA codes had been in use already and possible duplicates could not be excluded.
Some Canadian airports add letters from the city's name after the Y, such as YOW for Ottawa, YYC for Calgary and YVR for Vancouver (which really stands for Yes Very Rainy, Vancouverite Al Colodey says).
As air travel became common, Canadian airports began to use 3 and now 4-letter codes, typically begin with the letter “C”. It is also thought that the reason the letter Y is used for all (or most) Canadian airports, is that the letter “Y” indicated there was a weather reporting station at the airport or close by.
Most large airports in Canada have codes that begin with the letter Y, although not all Y codes are Canadian (for example, YUM for Yuma, Arizona, and YNT for Yantai, China), and not all Canadian airports start with the letter Y (for example ZBF for Bathurst, New Brunswick).
ORD: Before becoming one of the world's busiest airports, Chicago's O'Hare International Airport was the site of an aircraft factory known as Orchard Place; and thus, the “ORD” designation for Orchard. Later, it became a commercial airfield, known as Orchard Field.
In many cultures, the number 13 is associated with bad luck, which is why many airlines prefer to avoid igniting the superstitions of their customers and have opted to remove the number from there seating plans.
ICAO codes have 4 letters because there are so many airports in the world. Usually, the last 3 letters identify the airport domestically, but when searching worldwide you have to use all 4.