Training Puzzle: Whoa--I Know Cartography!

by Lance Nathan

The first step is identifying the 26 locations. The second is to take the IATA airport codes for each location (note "It's At These Address" in the flavortext; also note that the IATA code for "Mamai" in Papua New Guinea is MAP). They are:

1  PHL	    PHILADELPHIA, Penn.
2  STA	    STAUNING, Denmark
3  WMC	    WINNEMUCCA, Nevada
4  DLE	    DOLE, France
5  KQA	    AKUTAN, Alaska
6  IEJ	    IEJIMA, Japan
7  BWI	    BALTIMORE, Maryland
8  MVB	    FRANCEVILLE MVENGUE, Gabon
9  XZA	    ZABRE, Burkina Faso
10 NAE	    NATITINGOU, Benin
11 ERF	    ERFURT, Germany
12 CUN	    CANCUN, Mexico
13 TPJ	    TAPLEJUNG, Nepal
14 HBO	    HUMBOLDT, Nebraska
15 VJB	    XAI XAI, Mozambique
16 OSI	    OSIJEK, Croatia
17 QXE	    SORA, Italy
18 FDR	    FREDERICK, Oklahoma
19 GFO	    BARTICA, Guyana
20 RIF	    RICHFIELD, Utah
21 ZGI	    G-DS RIVER, Canada
22 JNU	    JUNEAU, Alaska
23 UCE	    EUNICE, Louisiana 
24 AOL	    PASO DE LOS LIBRES, Argentina
25 LYT	    LADY ELLIOT ISLAND, Australia
26 YKS	    YAKUTSK, Russia

The first and second letters of the airport codes use each letter of the alphabet once, giving a substitution code used to decrypt three M answers.

Ciphertext: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
Plaintext:  OWULRDFBENQYVASHXITPCJMZKG

Reading down the third letters gives the message "LACEAJIBAEFNJOBIEROFIUELTS." Decrypting this with the above code spells "Your one-word answer is DECRYPT."