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What does "X" stand for in "LAX?

What do airport abbreviations stand for? (Ex: LAX, SFO, etc.)?

  • LAX? I know LA stands for Los Angeles, what does the X stand for? SFO? I know SF stands for San Francisco, what does the O stand for? Why do airports have random letters after them ...show more

  • Answer:

    Each airport has a 3 letter IATA code. They aren't abbreviations. While some of the codes make sense like PHL being Philadelphia and ATL being Atlanta, others don't make sense at first glance. Orlando is MCO, due to it used to be called McCoy. And Chicago O'Hare is ORD because it used to be called Orchard Field. In your examples, SFO are the first letter in San and the first and last letter in Francisco. LAX would be Los Angeles with the X not standing for anything. The codes are used to simplify things. For example instead of entering New York which has multiple airports, you can quickly enter JFK, LGA, or EWR instead of John F. Kennedy, LaGuardia, or Newark Liberty.

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Some are easy, first three letters: ROC Rochester NY ATL Atlanta Or initials: JFK Kennedy (NY) DFW Dallas-Ft Worth SEA Seattle Often beginning and ending letters are used: SFO San Francisco TPA Tampa LGA Laguardia Sometimes two letters (two initials, first two letters, first and last letter) plus an X. The X doesn't actually stand for anything, it just makes a three letter code: LAX Los Angeles PDX Portland, OR And sometimes the code doesn't come from the city, but from something else: ORD Chicago (from Orchard Field, the former name for O'Hare) SWF Newburgh, NY (from Stewart Field) CVG Columbus, OH (from Covington, KY, where the airport is located) And a few are just plain weirdly constructed: IAD for International Airport Dulles

Neil

Jennifer B

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