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[realjd]

Personally I think this practice should be used almost exclusively on freeway signage, with two exceptions. Approaching an urban area, there should be a sign for the city's main airport, with the full name of the airport, its code, and what exit to look for; subsequent signs should use only the code. Smaller airports which only have one (auxiliary guide) sign on each direction of the nearby freeway might as well use the full airport name on those signs.

A few problems with that: many cities have multiple airports, and airports need prominent signage even within a metro area because thr majority of travelers aren't usually driving in from outside the metro area.

If your city has multiple major airports, you should already be familiar with their FAA identification codes. If you've booked a flight out of an airport, you should have become aware of the airport's FAA identification code through the process of booking (as well as your destination airport and any layovers). If you for some reason don't bother to learn the FAA identification code of the major airport in your city through which you've booked a flight, you probably at least know which part of the city it's in, and you're probably the type of person who doesn't pay attention to the big green signs anyway.

The issue isn't locals, it's visitors. Infrequent travelers really don't learn the airport code unless it's part of the airport branding like LAX. Using only the code is just asking for lost tourists in places where the codes are unintuitive like MCO, DCA/IAD, HOU/IAH, etc.

The codes alone are fine for supplementary signs I guess, but there need to be plenty of signs with the full name also at key driver decision points.

[Pete from Boston]

Following the tangent, what about North America's former other "country" Newfoundland, which did not join Canada until 1949 and already had a major air transport presence before that?

[realjd]

Following the tangent, what about North America's former other "country" Newfoundland, which did not join Canada until 1949 and already had a major air transport presence before that?

They use CY and CZ for ICAO codes just like the rest of Canada.

[machias]

NYSDOT R3 has started putting "SYR" above the airport symbol on streets leading to Syracuse Airport. I-81 and freeways to I-81 still use "Syracuse Airport".  The SYR is new, there was never a reference to the three letter code on road signs up until a year or so ago. Heck, I can still remember the ghost writing of "Hancock Airport" underneath the button copy "Syracuse Airport" signs when exiting the Thruway at Exit 36 until those signs were replaced in 1983.

[txstateends]

In north TX, pretty much all the BGSes say 'DFW Airport' and not the full spelled-out version (there were a few instances, I think mostly on WB I-635, using the initial 'D/FW Airport' labeling, but I believe most of those have since been replaced).  I have yet to see a BGS for Love Field (not that there are that many) that uses its DAL code instead of the full name.  Elsewhere, the BGSes for the airport in Amarillo have had no code (AMA) that I've ever seen, just the full name -- whether it was the previous name or the current one with the late Rick Husband's name before it.

[ap70621]

I believe there was (is) a sign on I-64 in the Richmond, VA area saying "RIC Airport".