Stirring the Pot of Airport Identifier Alphabet Soup

One of our favorite things about working in the world of aviation is the alphabet soup of airport identifiers we encounter every day.

Some of us at AC-U-KWIK proudly reminisce about the first time we remembered that SUS is shorthand for Spirit of St. Louis Airport or that HPN is another way to say White Plains, N.Y.

When we came across this piece about airport code history, we had a good excuse to ponder the puzzles of airport codes that appear to be assigned without rhyme or reason.

For every airport with a clear, logical identifier, such as SFO in San Francisco or TUL in Tulsa, there seems to be another airport assigned a random string of three letters.

While paging through a proof of our directory, we'll stop and wonder how TYQ came to stand for Indianapolis Executive Airport. None of those letters is in the word Indianapolis.

Outside of work, we can't escape these confusing codes. Our airports here in the Kansas City area are good examples of unexpected identifiers. 

Everyone here refers to Kansas City International Airport by its abbreviated nickname, KCI. When we claim our bags there, the luggage tags read, "MCI." Lots of people have a reaction that can be reduced to three letters: HUH?

In short, it's complicated. The Kansas City Aviation Department has the full answer.

Briefly, KCI is MCI because its previous name was Mid-Continent International Airport, which was supposed to be a new hub of Mid-Continent Airlines. When the city changed the airport's name, the identifier KCI was unavailable because the FCC had reserved the letters K and W for broadcast station call letters.

The FCC's restriction also prevents Wichita's main commercial airport from having an identifier that begins with the letter W. Instead, it is ICT. And get this, the airport's full name is Wichita Mid-Continent Airport. Confused yet?

Johnson County Executive Airport in nearby Olathe, Kan., goes by the FAA identifier OJC. O for Olathe. JC for Johnson County. Makes sense. Another airport in Olathe, New Century Aircenter, though, is IXD. In spite of how cool India X-Ray Delta sounds, it probably won't enter the vernacular like DFW, JFK or PHX.

Are we the only ones who have fun with airport identifiers? What is your favorite airport identifier?