What is the best way to learn airport codes?

Try using a play on words, like New Orleans has the Most Saints Yawning (MSY). Orlando's main airport is MCO. Orlando is home to Disney World, so Mickey's Climbing Onboard (MCO). The sillier the better when it comes to remembering these tough identifiers.



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During training, one of the first things a flight attendant is asked to do is memorize their airlines airport codes. For some airlines, this could be hundreds of codes! Airlines will test on these codes as well as other crucial vocabulary during the first week in training.

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Those codes are actually four letters long: The first letter describes the country, and the remaining three letters mark the specific airport. For instance, Florida's Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport would be KFLL; the “K” is for U.S. and “FLL” is the specific airport code.

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ICAO codes are the next most widely recognized codes. While IATA codes specifically support the airline travel industry, ICAO codes more broadly support international flight operations regardless of the type of operation (to include general and business aviation).

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As such, pilots, dispatchers, and air traffic controllers work primarily in the ICAO airport code scheme.

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Since the code contains only three letters, the possible combinations are limited and consequently the IATA codes are not unique in some cases, with the same code used to designate two different airports.

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This system became unmanageable for cities and towns without an NWS identifier, and the use of two letters allowed only a few hundred combinations; a three-letter system of airport codes was implemented. This system allowed for 17,576 permutations, assuming all letters can be used in conjunction with each other.

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A high school degree is required, with 2 or more years of college preferred. A flight attendant working for United Airlines should be able to read,write, speak and understand English. Speaking a second language fluently is not required, but is an asset.

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Welcome to World Airport Codes, the place to find over 47,000 airport codes, abbreviations, runway lengths and other airport information.

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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.

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The International Air Transport Association's (IATA) Location Identifier is a unique 3-letter code (also commonly known as IATA code) used in aviation and also in logistics to identify an airport.

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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.

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The X in LAX
With the rapid growth in the aviation industry, in 1947, the identifiers expanded to three letters and LA received an extra letter to become LAX. The letter X does not otherwise have any specific meaning in this identifier.

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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.

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