Short answer: 33 of them. We checked common three-letter job titles against every IATA airport code, more than 9,000 of them. CEO is Waco Kungo, a small airport in Angola. CFO is Confresa, Brazil. CTO is Calverton Executive Airpark on Long Island, New York. Of the 21 C-suite titles we checked, 20 are real airports. EVP isn't one, so for once the SVP wins.
We make tees out of airport codes, with each city and country printed under the code. See them below.
How we checked
We used the OurAirports open data (October 2026), which lists 9,052 airports, airfields, heliports and seaplane bases with an IATA code, and looked up common three-letter job titles: the C-suite, the VP layer, managers, sales and engineering roles, plus a few teams and degrees. Then we checked every code on this page in IATA's own airport code search. Each IATA code belongs to exactly one airport, so every match below is one real airport. A few are big airports, like Cotonou (COO), Cali (CLO) and Zhengzhou (CGO). Many are small airfields.
Two-letter titles like VP, HR and PM can't be airport codes, and neither can four-letter ones like CHRO or CISO: IATA airport codes always have three letters.
The C-suite
All 12 of the classic C-suite titles are real airports, in 10 countries on 4 continents. Good luck planning the offsite.
| Code | Title | Airport | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| CEO | chief executive officer | Waco Kungo Airport | Waco Kungo, Angola |
| COO | chief operating officer | Cadjehoun Airport | Cotonou, Benin |
| CFO | chief financial officer | Confresa Airport | Confresa, Brazil |
| CTO | chief technology officer | Calverton Executive Airpark | Calverton, New York, US |
| CMO | chief marketing officer | Hobyo Airport | Hobyo, Somalia |
| CIO | chief information officer | Teniente Coronel Carmelo Peralta Airport | Concepción, Paraguay |
| CPO | chief product officer | Desierto de Atacama Airport | Copiapó, Chile |
| CSO | chief strategy officer | Magdeburg-Cochstedt Airport | Cochstedt, Germany |
| CRO | chief revenue officer | Corcoran Airport | Corcoran, California, US |
| CDO | chief data officer | Cradock Airport | Cradock, South Africa |
| CCO | chief commercial officer | Carimagua Airport | Carimagua, Colombia |
| CLO | chief legal officer | Alfonso Bonilla Aragón International Airport | Cali, Colombia |
More chiefs
The newer C-level titles made it too. Only CQO, the chief quality officer, has no airport.
| Code | Title | Airport | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| CAO | chief administrative officer | Clayton Municipal Airpark | Clayton, New Mexico, US |
| CBO | chief business officer | Awang Airport | Cotabato, Philippines |
| CGO | chief growth officer | Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport | Zhengzhou, China |
| CHO | chief happiness officer | Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport | Charlottesville, Virginia, US |
| CKO | chief knowledge officer | Cornélio Procópio Airport | Cornélio Procópio, Brazil |
| CNO | chief nursing officer | Chino Airport | Chino, California, US |
| CVO | chief visionary officer | Corvallis Municipal Airport | Corvallis, Oregon, US |
| CXO | chief experience officer | Conroe-North Houston Regional Airport | Conroe, Texas, US |
The rest of the org chart
EVP isn't an airport. SVP is: Kuito, Angola, about 230 km from the CEO.
| Code | Title | Airport | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| SVP | senior vice president | Kuito Airport | Kuito, Angola |
| AVP | assistant vice president | Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport | Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Pennsylvania, US |
| COS | chief of staff | Colorado Springs Airport | Colorado Springs, Colorado, US |
| DIR | director | Aba Tenna Dejazmach Yilma International Airport | Dire Dawa, Ethiopia |
| MGR | manager | Moultrie Municipal Airport | Moultrie, Georgia, US |
| SME | subject-matter expert | Lake Cumberland Regional Airport | Somerset, Kentucky, US |
Sales and engineering
| Code | Title | Airport | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| SDR | sales development rep | Seve Ballesteros-Santander Airport | Santander, Spain |
| BDR | business development rep | Igor I. Sikorsky Memorial Airport | Bridgeport, Connecticut, US |
| CSM | customer success manager | Clinton-Sherman Airport | Clinton, Oklahoma, US |
| SRE | site reliability engineer | Alcantarí International Airport | Sucre, Bolivia |
| SWE | software engineer | Siwea Airport | Siwea, Papua New Guinea |
| SDE | software development engineer | Vicecomodoro Ángel de la Paz Aragonés Airport | Santiago del Estero, Argentina |
| MLE | machine learning engineer | Velana International Airport | Malé, Maldives |
Bonus: teams and letters after your name
Not job titles, but close enough to make the list.
| Code | Stands for | Airport | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| OPS | operations | Presidente João Batista Figueiredo Airport | Sinop, Brazil |
| ENG | engineering | Enggano Airport | Enggano, Indonesia |
| PMO | project management office | Falcone-Borsellino Airport | Palermo, Italy |
| MBA | master of business administration | Moi International Airport | Mombasa, Kenya |
| PHD | doctor of philosophy (PhD) | Harry Clever Field | New Philadelphia, Ohio, US |
| MFA | master of fine arts | Mafia Island Airport | Mafia Island, Tanzania |
Job titles that aren't airports (yet)
EVP, CQO, DEV, CFA and ESQ. No airport in the world has any of these codes. CPA is a maybe: OurAirports still lists Cape Palmas in Liberia as CPA, but IATA's own code search has no CPA.
A few favorites
- CEO and SVP are both in Angola, about 230 km apart.
- PHD is Harry Clever Field in New Philadelphia, Ohio.
- COS, the chief of staff, is Colorado Springs, home of the US Air Force Academy.
- SDR is Santander, the Spanish city the bank is named after.
- MLE is Malé, the capital of the Maldives. Machine learning engineers, take the hint.
- MFA is Mafia Island, off the coast of Tanzania.
More codes that spell things
Job titles are only one corner of it. 756 airport codes are real English words, from BAD, SAD and MAD to FUN, DAD and PIE: here is the full list of airport codes that spell words, with a map. Texting has its own set: 50 internet slang words that are real airport codes, from LOL to BRB. And for Halloween: 37 Halloween words that are real airport codes.
Wear one
We put real airport pairs on tees, aviation hoodies and airport code hats. BRN→OUT is the one for the office, and Real Routes like JFK→LAX are for anyone who lives on a plane. See all airport code tees, or our aviation gifts for the frequent flyer on your team.
FAQ
Is CEO a real airport code?
Yes. CEO is Waco Kungo Airport in Angola.
Is CFO an airport?
Yes. CFO is Confresa Airport in Mato Grosso, Brazil.
Which job titles aren't airport codes?
EVP, CQO, DEV, CFA and ESQ. Two-letter titles like VP and HR can't be: airport codes always have three letters.
Can I use this list?
Yes, please do. Just link to this page.
Is your job title an airport? Email us at info@ioftenfly.com and we'll look it up.