What does the “X” in LAX stand for?
Every airport today has a unique three-letter identifier to streamline the process of tracking the millions of items of airport data transmitted daily, including flight plans and weather reports. Before the 1930s, existing airports used a two-letter abbreviation based on the weather station at the airports. So, at that time, LA served as the designation for Los Angeles International Airport. But, with the rapid growth in the aviation industry, the designations expanded to three letters, and LA became LAX. The letter X does not otherwise have any specific meaning in this identifier.
The X in the airport code LAX for the Los Angeles Airport doesn’t mean anything. The aviation industry moved from a 2 letter abbreviation to a 3 letter abbreviation for airport codes in the 1930s. The original Los Angeles airport code was LA, and after the change to 3 letters, the X was just added on with no special meaning.
