One of my regular email buddies sent this today as part of his ongoing campaign to provide as much meaningless trivia as he can:
The ORD abbreviation for Chicago’s O’Hare Airport comes from the airport’s original name Orchard Place Airport. The airport was renamed for WWII ace pilot and Medal of Honor winner Edward “Butch” O’Hare.
One code that is completely arbitrary is that for Lester B. Pearson International, Toronto, Ontario: YYZ. (Well, the first Y can be explained – most airport codes in Canada start with Y – but the rest suggests they were running out of letters for codes).
At least Vancouver got YVR. :: mutter grumble :: Listing of Canadian airport codes. It looks like in a few cases they tried to make the two letters after the Y make some sort of sense, but soon gave up.
The Soo is YAM. I believe that the Island airport in Toronto is YTO, which makes sense because it was there first, and YYZ in Malton was intended to be a relief airport.
Louisville International Airport is SDF, for the original name of Standiford Field.
Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky Airport is CVG, which is truly nonsensical as it’s short for Covington, Kentucky. But the airport is 10 miles from Covington, in Erlanger, and has never been in Covington.
Worse yet - when the KC airport changed its name, Wichita, which isn’t that far away, grabbed the “Mid-Continent” name for its own. Travelers just have to remember that Mid-Continent is ICT, not MCI.
On occasion, the “sensible” code for a city does exist, but is still held by an older, smaller airport that used to be the mainline one. Orlando still has ORL, even though airline traffic goes through MCO (the former McCoy AFB) now. Houston still has HOU, even though the airlines mostly go to IAH (Intercontinental) now.
although I’ve only lived here 3 years (but know enough about the history of the airport to say it was never in Covington) and don’t listen to AM radio so i have no other information for you.
At least the Ottawa airport code makes some kind of sense: YOW. See, it starts with O…and there’s a W in there…well, it makes more sense than YYZ, at least. Also it’s a nicer airport than YYZ, so it’s pretty much winning all around.
Harrisburg International Airport is MDT, which is short for Middletown, the suburb where the airport is located. The natives don’t call it MDT, we call it HIA.
