Useless trivia about IATA airport codes

[Sunspace]

@Spoons

I remember that. I was living in Edmonton in the mid-2000s, and it was not at all unusual for a friend to say that they were flying out of EIA next week. Now, when I return for various reasons, it’s only ever YEG.

Another Alberta city that is trying, unofficially, to change its branding in the same way is Lethbridge. Its airport code is YQL, and occasionally, you’ll hear someone being interviewed on the news referring to the city as YQL. I don’t think that efforts will be successful, since while YEG is easy to pronounce (“yeg,” rhymes with “beg”), YQL is a little more difficult.

Though we could have a little fun with it: “Why? Cue 'ell!”

:: cries in Torontonian ::

(YYZ)

[wolfpup]

@Spoons

what is a “LID”

It’s a Location IDentifier assigned in the US by the FAA and in Canada by Transport Canada (TC LID) to small airports, seaplane ports, heliports, and even train stations and other travel-related points that have no international IATA or ICAO codes.

[Spoons]

Thank you, @wolfpup!

[Qadgop_the_Mercotan]

@Spoons

YQL is a little more difficult.

Makes me immediately think of ‘yokel’. Uneducated, unsophisticated, from the countryside. Does that fit Lethbridge?

[GESancMan]

@Sunspace

@Spoons

I remember that. I was living in Edmonton in the mid-2000s, and it was not at all unusual for a friend to say that they were flying out of EIA next week. Now, when I return for various reasons, it’s only ever YEG.

Another Alberta city that is trying, unofficially, to change its branding in the same way is Lethbridge. Its airport code is YQL, and occasionally, you’ll hear someone being interviewed on the news referring to the city as YQL. I don’t think that efforts will be successful, since while YEG is easy to pronounce (“yeg,” rhymes with “beg”), YQL is a little more difficult.

Though we could have a little fun with it: “Why? Cue 'ell!”

:: cries in Torontonian ::

(YYZ)

I’m sure you guys will eventually come up with something. Take your time, there’s no rush.

[FinsToTheLeft]

@GESancMan

Take your time, there’s no rush.

Rush - YYZ (HQ)

[Dewey_Finn]

@Johnny_L.A

Like, ‘Oh? What’s the ‘O’ in SFO stand for?

I assumed that SFO was for San Francisco and Oakland.

[hajario]

Oakland has its own international airport, OAK.

Just to make things clear, its official name is San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport

[Dorjan]

One of my favorite side quests when I worked for for an airline was to find these humorous approach waypoints.

The Runway 23 Localizer approach to Morristown Municipal Airport in NJ has BADDA and BINGG.

The THRNE 1 RNAV ARRIVAL to Burbank has DROGO, DNERY, ARRYA, IRONN, THRNE, NNED, JOFRY

The ILS 10L approach to Portland has TRAYL and BLAZR

And perhaps most famously, The rwy 01 ILS approach to Kansas City Intl has SPICY BARBQ TERKY SMOKE RIBBS

[Dewey_Finn]

@hajario

Oakland has its own international airport, OAK.

Just to make things clear, its official name is San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport

I am aware of both of those facts. I was just expressing my belief (assumption) that SFO stands for San Francisco [and] Oakland.

[Chronos]

Washington has its own airport, too, but that doesn’t stop BWI from being partly named after Washington.

(and by the way, that also shows what you get when someone DOES want to put an abbreviation for “international” in the code)

[Johnny_L.A]

@Dorjan

One of my favorite side quests when I worked for for an airline was to find these humorous approach waypoints.

Back when there were ARSAs, I really wished Kissimmee Gateway Airport had one. Then it could be Kissimmee ARSA.

[wolfpup]

@Dewey_Finn

I was just expressing my belief (assumption) that SFO stands for San Francisco [and] Oakland.

It’s fun to trace the origins and rationale for some airport codes, but when it comes to details like this, there’s not likely to be a definitive answer. But if you wanted a reasonable three-letter designation for “San Francisco”, what letters would you use? My hunch is that the fact that the “O” can also be construed to stand for “Oakland” is just a fortuitous coincidence.

@Chronos

Washington has its own airport, too, but that doesn’t stop BWI from being partly named after Washington.

The difference here being that the full official name of BWI is “Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport”, just like the full name of DFW is “Dallas Fort Worth International Airport”, whereas the full name of SFO is just “San Francisco International Airport”. The fact that in practice it also serves Oakland isn’t really relevant – it’s not in the name from which the code was presumably derived.

[Dorjan]

This article from 2017 seems to get to the bottom of the ‘O’:

Examining the History Behind San Francisco International Airport's ‘SFO' Code

[wolfpup]

Even though the article agrees with me, I’m going to suggest that even as august a figure as the SFO Museum Assistant Director is really just making an educated guess. Yes, “SF” could have followed the pattern of “LAX” and become “SFX”, but in general there’s no such rigorous methodology in the IATA codes. At any rate, “SFX” today is San Felix, Venezuela, but it may not have existed at that time.

The only way to really know for sure where the “O” came from is to go back in time and read the mind of some unknown IATA bureaucrat. But if I had to put money on it, I’d bet heavily that the article is right, and “SFO” is from “San FranciscO”

[hajario]

@wolfpup

But if I had to put money on it, I’d bet heavily that the article is right, and “SFO” is from “San FranciscO”

Clearly. Incidentally Santa Barbara Airport is SBA which follows the same logic.

[Eyebrows_0f_Doom]

@wolfpup

But if I had to put money on it, I’d bet heavily that the article is right, and “SFO” is from “San FranciscO”

That’s what I have always thought, I never thought the O stood for an actual word, which was why I found Johnny_L.A’s comment about it strange.

[wolfpup]

@hajario

Clearly. Incidentally Santa Barbara Airport is SBA which follows the same logic.

The only logic, really, is determining what current or former name the code is derived from and what constraints limited the available options. Beyond that, how a name is encoded into a three-letter code is purely arbitrary. There is no other pattern. San Jose, for instance, is SJC, and Orange County airport (Santa Ana) is SNA.

In the case of SJC, the “C” might likely stand for “California” to distinguish it from over two dozen similar “San Jxxx” names, but what you gets dibs on largely depends on who grabbed the code first. Literally all 26 of the “SJx” codes are used up, from “SJA” right down to “SJZ”. Sometimes you just gotta take what you can get.

[Elmer_J.Fudd]

@hajario

@wolfpup

But if I had to put money on it, I’d bet heavily that the article is right, and “SFO” is from “San FranciscO”

Clearly. Incidentally Santa Barbara Airport is SBA which follows the same logic.

Is it that clear? It could be Santa BarbarA or Santa BAbara…or , hell, even Santa BarbAra.

[Saint_Cad]

I’m curious to find out what the code was for Mines Field (now LAX)