---
title: "MSY is which airport? New Orleans"
description: "MSY is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport in New Orleans, United States. Where the code comes from, and the codes it gets mixed up with."
url: https://atoneplace.net/airport/msy/
site: "At One Place"
---

# What airport is MSY?

**MSY is: Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport**

New Orleans, United States

## Why the code is MSY

Moisant Stock Yards — the land was a stockyard, and before that the field where the aviator John Moisant died in 1910.

The airport authority or a contemporaneous record states this directly.

## The airport

- **IATA code:** MSY
- **ICAO code:** KMSY
- **Airport:** Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport
- **City:** New Orleans, United States
- **Opened:** 1946
- **Code origin:** Documented

John Moisant crashed there while attempting a distance record on the last day of 1910. The site became a stockyard, then an airport named Moisant Field, and the code was assigned from Moisant Stock Yards. It was renamed for Louis Armstrong in 2001 on the centenary of his birth, and the code stayed — so the airport now carries the name of one man and the code of another.

## The other code, KMSY

Every airport has two codes. The three-letter IATA code, MSY, is the one on your boarding pass and your luggage tag, and it is assigned for commercial use. The four-letter ICAO code, KMSY, is the one pilots and controllers use, and it is assigned geographically: the first letter or two identify the region, so every airport in the same part of the world shares a prefix. That is why KMSY looks nothing like MSY.

## Common questions

### What airport is MSY?

Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, in New Orleans, United States.

### Why is New Orleans's airport called MSY?

Moisant Stock Yards — the land was a stockyard, and before that the field where the aviator John Moisant died in 1910.

### What is the difference between MSY and KMSY?

MSY is the IATA code, used commercially — tickets, timetables, luggage tags. KMSY is the ICAO code, used operationally by pilots and air traffic control, and assigned geographically by region.

## Related pages

- [United States](https://atoneplace.net/country/united-states/)
- [The flag of United States](https://atoneplace.net/flag/united-states/)
- [Airport codes in United States](https://atoneplace.net/airport/in/united-states/)
- [What airport is JFK?](https://atoneplace.net/airport/jfk/)
- [What airport is LAX?](https://atoneplace.net/airport/lax/)
- [What airport is ORD?](https://atoneplace.net/airport/ord/)
- [What airport is ATL?](https://atoneplace.net/airport/atl/)
- [What airport is MCO?](https://atoneplace.net/airport/mco/)
- [What airport is DFW?](https://atoneplace.net/airport/dfw/)
- [What airport is EWR?](https://atoneplace.net/airport/ewr/)
- [What airport is SFO?](https://atoneplace.net/airport/sfo/)

## Sources

- Official vendor product documentation — At One Place (/about/)