MCO or OIA?

[NYDisneyKid]

Which is it? Last I knew it was MCO yet the news insists on referring to it as OIA. If thats the case then when you make a reservation to fly into or out of the airport then they should change the code to OIA and drop the MCO.

 

[seashoreCM]

Hmmm -- I think some other airport (not in the US) has the code OIA.

 

[Ted in Halifax]

As I understand it OAI means ... Office of Airline Information

 

[Ted in Halifax]

Brazil

http://www.flightstats.com/go/Airport/airportDetails.do?airportCode=OIA

I suggest you don't book ....

 

[Alesia]

Officially it is MCO, but, from what I understand, locals often refer to it as OIA.

 

[NYDisneyKid]

Officially it is MCO, but, from what I understand, locals often refer to it as OIA.

see what I mean?? news media is suppose to be professional? then refer to it by the right name...MCO

 

[ClanHarrison]

O.K. Let me take a shot at it .

"OIA" is the abbreviation for "Orlando Int'l. Airport".

"MCO" is the airport code for "Orlando Int'l. Airport".

It's just that when posting, folks tend to refer to the airport as "MCO" because there IS another airport that uses "OIA" as its airport code.

So it's natural that the news refers to the airport by it abbreviation (OIA), especially if it was local news. But on the board, it could cause confusion.

That's how I understand it anyway .

 

[NYDisneyKid]

As I understand it OAI means ... Office of Airline Information

read the post again,,,i said OIA not OAI. besides,,,last i knew OIA stood for office of internal affairs

 

[Alesia]

O.K. Let me take a shot at it .

"OIA" is the abbreviation for "Orlando Int'l. Airport".

"MCO" is the airport code for "Orlando Int'l. Airport".

It's just that when posting, folks tend to refer to the airport as "MCO" because there IS another airport that uses "OIA" as its airport code.

So it's natural that the news refers to the airport by it abbreviation (OIA), especially if it was local news. But on the board, it could cause confusion.

That's how I understand it anyway .

Right. The official name is Orlando International Airport, but the official code is MCO, which comes from the former name: McCoy Air Force Base.

 

[annacali]

I guess I never thought of airport codes having anything to do with airport names. Our local airport is KCI (Kansas City International) but the code for booking purposes is MCI...no one would have a clue what they were talking about if someone on the news started calling our airport MCI!

 

[ClanHarrison]

I have no idea the criteria used when "coding" an airport but no, not all airport codes are consistent with the airports name. Some get luck, I guess, like my local airport-BWI-which USED to stand for Baltimore-Washington Int'l. Airport. The name of the airport has changed...probably a few time. It was changed again a few year ago to Baltimore Washington Int'l. Thurgood Marshall Airport, after the first Black Supreme Court Justice.

That's probably how the airport name & airport code get out of consistency...when they change the name of the airport.

 

[ClanHarrison]

annacali, I found this about how your airport code became MCI:

http://wapedia.mobi/en/Kansas_City_International_Airport?t=4.#4.

4. MCI instead of KCI

Despite requests from Kansas City, the airport has been unable to change its original International Air Transport Association (IATA) Mid-Continent designation of MCI which had already been registered on navigational charts. Further complicating requests to change the designation, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) at the time reserved all call letters with "K" or "W" for radio and television stations and so KCI was not viable. [citation needed]Wichita, Kansas in 1973 laid claim to the Mid-Continent name for its Municipal Airport (IATA: ICT, ICAO: KICT) after Kansas City abandoned it. However, Wichita had no luck in changing its IATA designation for the same reasons (including the forbidden "W").

The downtown Kansas City airport got around the "K" restriction because it was originally called Municipal Airport and so its designation is MKC and for added incentive it was in Missouri.

The "W" and "K" restrictions have since been lifted but the IATA is reluctant to change names that have appeared on navigational charts.

 

[Metro West]

Officially it is MCO, but, from what I understand, locals often refer to it as OIA.

 

[Ted in Halifax]

Lets throw ORL out there ... I've seen that as a reference to MCO too!

 

[Alesia]

Lets throw ORL out there ... I've seen that as a reference to MCO too!

That could be really confusing. ORL is Herndon Airport, also known as Orlando Executive Airport.

 

[goofy4tink]

Both are acceptable.
MCO...McCoy Air Base
OIA..Orlando Intl Airport

MCO is what is traditionally used, but we do see OIA used more and more. The technical MCO will probably remain in use in order to avoid booking confusion.

 

[Ted in Halifax]

I just did a search on BOS to OIA and then BOS to ORL

http://matrix.itasoftware.com/cvg/dispatch

I used OIA and no flights were scheduled .... it states "The airport Ourilandia (OIA) has no scheduled flights."

But when I used ORL ... results for MCO came up.

 

[seashoreCM]

Airports may have codes based on persons' names, often some decorated military person, or some well known aviator.

I think Executive Airport (ORL) was "the" airport in Orlando before MCO opened.