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.
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Every airport in the world is given a three-letter code from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and a four-letter code from International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
Different kinds of codes have different number of letters. IATA codes for airports have 3 letters, while IATA codes for airlines have two. IATA codes for meals have 4 letters.
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.
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.
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.
K – United StatesThe prefix K is generally reserved for the contiguous United States. The ICAO codes for these airports are usually the FAA location identifier prefixed with a K. IATA codes are listed where applicable.
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.
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.
The airport code is BNA, which stands for Berry Field Nashville in honor of Col.Harry S.Berry, administrator of the original airport project in the 1930s. The Nashville International Airport is located at One Terminal Drive, Nashville, TN 37214 - 8 miles east of downtown Nashville.
Every airport has its code and EWR is the code of Newark Liberty International Airport. Three-letter codes are assigned by the International Airport Association as each airport's ID. In this case, EWR comprises the three letters from Newark since all codes that start with N are used by the Navy.
Saudi Arabia's King Fahr International Airport covered by far the largest land area, more than ten times the size of the third biggest airport in the ranking, Dallas/Fort Worth International in the United States.
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.
Once Terminal 5's construction was done, airport authorities realized it made more sense to service all international flights (arrivals and departures) through the newly constructed terminal. Terminal 4 was no longer in service.
O'Hare and Midway International Airports are owned and operated by the City of Chicago. The airports are managed by the Chicago Department of Aviation (CDA) and comprise one of the busiest airport systems in the world.