¿Por qué Chicago es ORD? Historias detrás de los códigos

Última actualización: 28 de June de 2026 · Por el equipo AirportCodesDB

Ever wondered why Chicago's airport code is ORD instead of CHI? Or why Los Angeles is LAX with an X? Airport codes carry fascinating history. Let's decode them.

🔤 How IATA Codes Are Assigned

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) assigns three-letter codes to airports worldwide. Most are intuitive abbreviations, but some preserve history from decades — even centuries — ago.

🏛️ The Most Fascinating Airport Code Stories

ORD — Chicago O'Hare

The land where O'Hare sits was once a celery farm called Orchard Field. During World War II, it became Naval Air Station Chicago and a Douglas Aircraft factory. The code ORD comes from "Orch-ar-D."

In 1949, the airport was renamed after Lt. Commander Edward "Butch" O'Hare, the U.S. Navy's first flying ace and Medal of Honor recipient. But the code stayed ORD forever.

LAX — Los Angeles

Originally, Los Angeles Airport had the two-letter code "LA." When IATA standardized all codes to three letters, they simply added an X as a placeholder — giving us LAX. The same happened to other airports: Portland (PDX), Phoenix (PHX).

YYZ — Toronto Pearson

All Canadian airports start with "Y" — this comes from the weather station identifier system. "YZ" was the telegraphic code for the Malton, Ontario area where the airport is located. So Toronto became YYZ (also famously immortalized in the Rush instrumental track).

CDG — Paris Charles de Gaulle

Named after Charles de Gaulle, the French general and president who led the Free French Forces in WWII. Paris's other airport, Orly, has the much simpler code ORY.

SIN — Singapore Changi

Despite what it looks like, SIN is simply the abbreviation for Singapore. Changi Airport is consistently rated the world's best airport by Skytrax.

FUK — Fukuoka

Japan's Fukuoka Airport has the eyebrow-raising code FUK — a perfectly normal abbreviation of the city name. Other notable Japanese codes: NRT (Narita, from "Na-Ri-Ta") and KIX (Kansai International, the X distinguishes it).

MCO — Orlando

Orlando's code MCO stands for McCoy Air Force Base, which previously occupied the site. The military base was named after Colonel Michael Norman Wright McCoy, who died in a B-47 crash in 1957.

BOM → BBI? — Mumbai

Mumbai's code BOM reflects its former name Bombay. Despite the city officially renaming to Mumbai in 1995, the code BOM remains unchanged — another example of codes preserving history.

PEK — Beijing Capital

Beijing's code PEK comes from Peking, the old Romanization of the Chinese name 北京 (Běijīng). The new Daxing airport uses PKX.

📊 Patterns in Airport Codes