Wook's Place

Nonxistant Airports: DIA, KCI, and PTI

I ran into someone today at Kansas City International airport, who insisted that the airport code for this airport is "KCI". This is, after all, what's printed on all the road signs leading here. Denver International Airport is called DIA on all the road signs leading up to the airport too. In North Carolina, when I was in Winston-Salem, the closest airport, just outside of Greensboro, was thought by many to be airport code "PTI", for "Piedmont Triad International".

I'm glad these people aren't travel agents. If you check the Airport Code Website you find out that there are not airports with codes of DIA or KCI. There is an airport with code PTI, it is Port Douglas, Australia. In reality, Kansas City is "MCI", Denver is "DEN", and Greensboro is "GSO".

I've typed this in while sitting in MCI, waiting for a much delayed flight home, thru Chicago O'Hare. It got me to wondering about where some of the airports get their codes. Sometimes the airport/city codes obviously fit their location. "JFK" airport is John F. Kennedy in New York City. And that makes sense. "DEN" makes sense, as do ones like "DSM" (Des Moines, IA), and "MSP" (Minneapolis, MN).

But then there are ones that don't obviously make sense. Chicago O'Hare is "ORD", which really is close only because it has an "O" in it. I happen to know that O'Hare started life as "Orchard Park", which makes more sense. Then there is Dulles International, outside of Washington DC, with a code of IAD. I seem to remember that IAD started life called Idlewild, but I'd have to check to make sure. I have to think that EWR (Newark, near NYC in New Jersey), might be as close as they could come to something that made sense. "NEW" is New Orleans Lakefront. "NWR" and "NWK" are not taken though.

If my battery wasn't totally dying ("5 minute warning, get your shit together") I'd look around a little more. So maybe more later.