Is MCO and OIA the same thing?

[Buckimion]

I've long been used to using MCO as the code for the Orlando airport but lately I'm seeing OIA more often. Is this the same airport or a different one?

 

[OKW Lover]

MCO is the official airline designator for Orlando International Airport. You should use MCO when booking flights.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

I've long been used to using MCO as the code for the Orlando airport but lately I'm seeing OIA more often. Is this the same airport or a different one?

Yes, it's the same.

MCO is the official, unique airport code for Orlando International Airport. It's used on luggage tags and in airline computer systems. It's actually short for McCoy, from when the airport was McCoy Air Force Base.

OIA is just an abbreviation — a nickname — for Orlando International Airport. For example, traffic reporters in Orlando call the airport OIA.

There's a similar situation in many other cities. Denver International Airport has an official code of DEN and a nickname of DIA. Chicago O'Hare International Airport has an official code of ORD and a nickname of O'Hare.

 

[seashoreCM]

OT: I'm not sure whether some other airport has the code OIA or whether there are other airports with codes almost the same (like OAI) but there has at least been talk of giving Orlando Int'l the code OIA.

DEN has been Denver's Stapleton Airport, between downtown and Denver Int'l, and which no longer serves commercial air traffic. (Is it still an airport at all?) If Denver Int'l is still commonly called DIA it probably should have kept the code DIA which it had originally. Unless confusion continued to exist with IAD which is Dulles Airport outside Washington DC.

HOU is Houstons's William(?) Hobby airport. IAH is the larger Houston Intercontinental Airport.

NYC is sometimes used to refer to Laguardia, Kennedy, and Newark as a group.

Southwest's stock ticker symbol LUV is named after its home base, Love Field (code DAL), in Dallas.

 

[CPT Tripss]

snip
IAH is the larger Houston Intercontinental Airport.
snip

Just to be a little picky, IAH is George Bush Intercontinental
Ok, more than a little picky.
The three letter codes are really obtuse in many cases. Louis Armstrong (New Orleans) is MSY sure doesn't derive too well from Moisant Field.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

DEN has been Denver's Stapleton Airport, between downtown and Denver Int'l, and which no longer serves commercial air traffic. (Is it still an airport at all?) If Denver Int'l is still commonly called DIA it probably should have kept the code DIA which it had originally. Unless confusion continued to exist with IAD which is Dulles Airport outside Washington DC.

Yes, Denver's old, defunct Stapleton International Airport was DEN. In 1995, Stapleton was decommissioned, and its DEN designator code transferred to the brand new Denver International Airport the same day.

Denver International Airport never had an official airport designator code of DIA, even though that's its nickname in Denver area. (Before the decommissioning of Stapleton, Denver International Airport had temporary airport designator codes of KDVX and DVX.)

 

[loveswdw]

It's actually short for McCoy, from when the airport was McCoy Air Force Base.

Well alright! I finally know where MCO comes from! I never researched it but always wondering how they got MCO out of Orlando International. Thank you Horace!

 

[NotUrsula]

The three letter codes are really obtuse in many cases. Louis Armstrong (New Orleans) is MSY sure doesn't derive too well from Moisant Field.

That's because it stands for Moisant Stock Yards, actually. John Moisant was a well-known early aviator. He died in a crash there on NYE 1910 while practicing for the Michelin Cup Race. A stockyard was later built on the land, and since the area was well-known as the place where Moisant had died, the owners named the stockyards after him. The city later bought the land to build an airport, which opened in 1946. (The original airport, NEW, is Lakefront Airport, which is still used for gen'l aviation.) In 2001, MSY was re-named for Louis Armstrong. Other than cabbies and traffic reporters, most locals calls it New Orleans Int'l, though old-timers, like me still call it Moisant.

 

[salmoneous]

OIA is apparently the designation for Ourilandia, Brazil

On the really geeky travel boards, you will see Southwest Airlines referred to by their official airline designation of "WN."

 

[CleveRocks]

OIA is apparently the designation for Ourilandia, Brazil

On the really geeky travel boards, you will see Southwest Airlines referred to by their official airline designation of "WN."

... and Spirit Airlines as "NK," and AirTran as "FL."

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Here are the official IATA codes for the Orlando area airports:

MCO — Orlando International Airport (see History)
ORL — City Code for all Orlando airports
ORL — Herndon / Orlando Executive Airport (see History)
SFB — Orlando Sanford International Airport (see History)
DWS — Walt Disney World STOL (no longer in use)

As noted earlier, "OIA" is a nickname, not an airport code.

 

[CPT Tripss]

Just discovered KSC won't get you to the space shuttle - it's Barsa Slovakia.

 

[rantnnravin]

NYC is sometimes used to refer to Laguardia, Kennedy, and Newark as a group.
.

The distinctions are made thus:

LGA= LaGuardia (Queens)
JFK=Kennedy (Brooklyn)
NWK= Newark (New Jersey)

 

[gw_lit]

The distinctions are made thus:

LGA= LaGuardia (Queens)
JFK=Kennedy (Brooklyn)
NWK= Newark (New Jersey)

Actually Newark is EWR. Airport codes in the U.S. do not use N or K as a first letter, thus Nashville is BNA, Kansas City is MCI, etc.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

The distinctions are made thus:

LGA= LaGuardia (Queens)
JFK=Kennedy (Brooklyn)
NWK= Newark (New Jersey)

Actually, John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and LaGuardia Airport (LGA) are both in the Borough of Queens, New York City.

As gw_lit noted, the IATA code for Newark Liberty International Airport is EWR.

And, as seashoreCM noted, NYC is the official IATA code for any/all metropolitan airports in New York City, New York.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Airport codes in the U.S. do not use N or K as a first letter, thus Nashville is BNA, Kansas City is MCI, etc.

The US Navy reserved N, so there are US military airfields, but not commercial airports, that begin with N.

The US Government reserved W and K for broadcast stations, so US airports supposedly couldn't use W and K. However, there are airports in former US territiories that are now US states that use K. For example, KOA is Kona, Hawaii, and KDK is Kodiak, Alaska. There are military and general aviation airports in the US that begin with W, but I'm not aware of any US airports with commercial service that begin with W.

The three-letter code BNA is for Berry Field NAshville, named in honor of Colonel Harry S. Berry, State Administrator of the WPA and administrator of the airport project for Nashville in the 1930s.

The three-letter code MCI is for Mid-Continent International, which, during early design phase, was going to be the name of what later became Kansas City International Airport.

 

[WillCAD]

Fortunately, my home airport's designator and nickname are exactly the same - BWI, which stands for Baltimore Washington International.

Of course, there was a recent push to rename the airport in honor of Thurgood Marshall, but there was as much resistance to that as there was support, so they compromised and called it Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshal Airport.

But the designator didn't change, and everybody still calls it BWI.

 

[AllyBri]

The distinctions are made thus:
JFK=Kennedy (Brooklyn)

JFK is actually in Queens.

 

[rantnnravin]

dial down the flamethrowers
yes you are all correct

when i drive to jfk, i don't think of queens, i think brooklyn (frannie lew - belt, etc)

but i've never heard of any of them referred to as NYC...

 

[gw_lit]

The US Navy reserved N, so there are US military airfields, but not commercial airports, that begin with N.

The US Government reserved W and K for broadcast stations, so US airports supposedly couldn't use W and K. However, there are airports in former US territiories that are now US states that use K. For example, KOA is Kona, Hawaii, and KDK is Kodiak, Alaska. There are military and general aviation airports in the US that begin with W, but I'm not aware of any US airports with commercial service that begin with W.

The three-letter code BNA is for Berry Field NAshville, named in honor of Colonel Harry S. Berry, State Administrator of the WPA and administrator of the airport project for Nashville in the 1930s.

The three-letter code MCI is for Mid-Continent International, which, during early design phase, was going to be the name of what later became Kansas City International Airport.

Exactly, I forgot to mention W, which shows why Wichita is ICT. (Completely OT, I knew the reasons behind the designators MCI and BNA, but I can't find anything on why ICT. Any ideas Horace?)