May 18, 2026
Airport Codes That Don't Match the City: The Strangest Mismatches
Some of the most-traveled airports in the world have codes that seem to have nothing to do with the city they serve. Chicago is ORD, New Orleans is MSY, and London has five codes. Here's why.
If airport codes were simply abbreviations of city names, Chicago O'Hare would be CHI and New Orleans would be NOL. Instead they are ORD and MSY — codes that seem arbitrary until you know the history behind them. These mismatches tell fascinating stories about aviation's past.
ORD: Orchard Field
Chicago O'Hare International was built on the site of a Douglas Aircraft Company plant known as Orchard Field during World War II. When the airport opened to commercial traffic in 1946, it was called Orchard Field Airport — hence ORD. The airport was renamed in 1949 to honor Navy pilot Edward "Butch" O'Hare, but the code stuck. Changing a well-established airport code disrupts booking systems, baggage routing, and schedules across the entire industry, so codes rarely change once assigned.
MSY: Moisant Stock Yards
Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport occupies land that was once the Moisant Stock Yards — a cattle-processing facility. When the airport was established in 1946, it inherited the MSY identifier from the stockyards location. Despite the airport being renamed multiple times (most recently to honor Louis Armstrong in 2001), the code remains MSY.
London's five airport codes
London is served by five major airports, each with its own code: LHR (Heathrow), LGW (Gatwick), STN (Stansted), LTN (Luton), and LCY (City). IATA also created a meta-code QQS for "London, all airports" — useful in booking searches when the traveler doesn't care which London airport they use.