The Purpose and Reason For Airport Codes
All airports worldwide are known by a unique three letter code or airport code. This code is sometimes referred to as the International Air Transport Association Location Identifier within the industry. These abbreviations or airport codes are much easier to reference than having to spell out the airport name word for word.
In the beginning, it was not necessary to have the airport code system as airports really did not exist. Pretty much any field was used as an airport in the early days of the airline industry. As the industry progressed and really started to explode during the 1930′s there was a need to identify every airport and thus a three-letter coding system was incepted. Back then most major airports simply placed an “X” behind the weather station code already assigned to the area. So for example the airport in Phoenix had a weather station code of PH which became PHX for the airport code.
Often times airport codes might simply be the first three letters of the city’s name in which the airport is located. For example Sydney, Australia has an airport code of SYD. Other times an abbreviation of the city’s name might be used. Take the example of Salt Lake City which has an airport code of SLC.
In order to decipher airport codes, you can find several resources online that will give you a directory of airport codes. A decent resource for looking up an airport code is the site www.world-airport-codes.com. At world airport codes you are able to look up an airport by entering the airport code or find the airport code by entering the airport. To find a site for looking up the different airport codes, simply go to any of the major search engines and search for “airport codes” you should find a multitude of sites that will help you.
