Fun with Airport Codes

If you've ever been to Sioux City, Iowa, you know that it really sucks. Well at least it's airport does, because it's IATA airport code is SUX. That's one of several mildly amusing airport codes, the three-letter designations that uniquely identify each airport in the world. There are over 9,000 airports (including seaports and airstrips) in the world and several more codes are used to designate metropolitan areas (for example, YTO is Toronto and includes YYZ and YTZ; TYO is Tokyo and includes NRT and HND). There are 17,576 possible three-letter combinations, from AAA (Anaa Airport in French Polynesia) to ZZZ (which doesn't exist as an airport yet, with Zanesville Ohio's ZZV the last alphabetically), so naturally some will spell out words or names, and a few of these might be a good for a chuckle. 

If a friend texts you 'WYA' and you happen to be at Whyalla Airport in South Australia, you can reply 'WYA' and start a whole comedy routine.

For sports fans, MLB (Melbourne, Florida), NFL (Fallon, Nevada), NBA (Nambaiyufa, Papua New Guinea), NLL (Nullagine, Australia), and PGA (Page, Arizona) all exist, but my favourite is USL (Useless Loop, Australia). The NHL gets overlooked again here, but Bobby Orr does not as ORR is an airport in Yorketown, Australia.

First names are relatively common, with JIM (Jimma, Ethiopia), TED (Thisted, Denmark), TIM (Timika, Indonesia), BOB (Bora Bora), CAL (Campbeltown, Scotland), ROY (Rio Mayo, Argentina) and SUE (Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin) among those honoured. Guymon, Oklahoma (GUY) is a name and a generic description that is matched by GAL (Galena, Alaska).

Animals can be discovered in Cascais, Portugal (CAT), Dongola, Sudan (DOG), Goodnews, Alaska (GNU), and Raduzhny, Russia (RAT).

The gamut of emotions is found in YAY (St. Anthony, Newfoundland) and SAD (Safford, Arizona), or possibly LAF (Purdue University in Lafayette) and CRY (Carlton Hill, Australia).

Hungry? Try a BLT at Blackwater, Australia. Thirsty? Then Qionghai, China (BAR) should be able to help. But don't forget to TIP (Tripoli, Libya).

Caribou Airport in Maine has an identity crisis, since it is a CAR, as does Batumi in Georgia (the country), which is a BUS.

Defunct terrorist organizations can be found in Kira Kira, Solomon Islands (IRA) and Port Lincoln, Australia (PLO).

Bodø Airport in Norway is known to be haunted (BOO), while strange things happen at Oodnadatta, Australia (ODD).

Albacete in Spain is a good place to practice your ABCs, while blackjack players might want to try their luck in Lanzarote in the Canary Islands (ACE) or Bethel, Alaska (BET).

Fans of the old country comedy show can fly from Helena, Arkansas (HEE) to Haverfordwest in Wales (HAW).

Finally, if you have a juvenile mind, PEE (Perm, Russia) and POO (Poços de Caldas, Brazil) will amuse you, but the route below from Fukuoka to Yakushima in Japan is the funniest. One hour and 15 minutes? Impressive!

Of course, there are plenty more codes that could be added to this post, but I'll leave the searching up to you. Finally, a few statistics: my list derived from Wikipedia has 9,076 codes. Of these, 2,044 are in the United States (22.5%) and of these, 333 are in Alaska (16.3%). So about 1 out of every 27 airports in the world is located in Alaska. That's a good non-sports trivia question for your next time at the bar.

Best,

Sean