Three-letter air-travel designation for airports and cities
An
IATA airport code
, also known as an
IATA location identifier
,
IATA station code
, or simply a
location identifier
, is a three-letter
geocode
designating many
airports
and
metropolitan areas
around the world, defined by the
International Air Transport Association
(IATA).
[1]
The characters prominently displayed on
baggage tags
attached at
airport check-in
desks are an example of a way these codes are used.
[2]
[3]
[4]
The assignment of these codes is governed by IATA Resolution 763,
[5]
and it is administered by the IATA's headquarters in
Montreal
, Canada. The codes are published semi-annually in the IATA Airline Coding Directory.
IATA provides codes for airport handling entities, and for certain railway stations.
[6]
Alphabetical lists of airports
sorted by IATA code are available. A
list of railway station codes
, shared in agreements between airlines and rail lines such as
Amtrak
,
SNCF
, and
Deutsche Bahn
, is available. However, many railway administrations have their own list of codes for their stations, such as the
list of Amtrak station codes
.
History
[
edit
]
Airport codes arose out of the convenience that the practice brought pilots for location identification in the 1930s. Initially, pilots in the United States used the two-letter code from the
National Weather Service
(NWS) for identifying cities. This system became unmanageable for cities and towns without an NWS identifier, and the use of two letters allowed only a few hundred combinations; a three-letter system of airport codes was implemented. This system allowed for 17,576 permutations, assuming all letters can be used in conjunction with each other.
[7]
Naming conventions
[
edit
]
National policies
[
edit
]
United States
[
edit
]
Since the
U.S. Navy
reserved "N" codes, and to prevent confusion with
Federal Communications Commission
broadcast call signs
, which begin with "W" or "K", the airports of certain U.S. cities whose name begins with one of these letters had to adopt "irregular" airport codes:
This practice is not followed outside the United States:
In addition, since
three letter codes starting with Q
are widely used in radio communication, cities whose name begins with "Q" also had to find alternate codes, as in the case of:
[
citation needed
]
IATA codes should not be confused with the
FAA identifiers
of U.S. airports. Most FAA identifiers agree with the corresponding IATA codes, but some do not, such as
Saipan
, whose FAA identifier is GSN and its IATA code is SPN, and some coincide with IATA codes of non-U.S. airports.
[
citation needed
]
Canada
[
edit
]
Canada's unusual codes?which bear little to no similarity with any conventional abbreviation to the city's name?such as
YUL
in
Montreal
, and
YYZ
in
Toronto
, originated from the two-letter codes used to identify weather reporting stations in the 1930s. The letters preceding the two-letter code follow the following format:
- "Y" ? Indicating "yes", this letter was used when the station shared its location with an airport.
- "W" ? When the weather-reporting station shared its location with no airport, this letter hinted at "Without".
- "U" ? This letter was used when the station was located together with a
non-directional beacon
(NDB).
- "X" ? Suggesting that the last two letters of a code were in use by a Canadian airport, this letter was put in place.
- "Z" ? This letter indicated that an airport code had been used for the identification of an airport in the U.S.
Most large airports in Canada have codes that begin with the letter "Y",
[8]
[
unreliable source?
]
although not all "Y" codes are Canadian (for example,
YUM
for
Yuma, Arizona
, and
YNT
for
Yantai
, China), and not all Canadian airports start with the letter "Y" (for example,
ZBF
for
Bathurst, New Brunswick
). Many Canadian airports have a code that starts with W, X or Z, but none of these are major airports. When the
Canadian transcontinental railroads
were built, each station was assigned its own two-letter
Morse code
:
When the Canadian government established airports, it used the existing railway codes for them as well. If the airport had a weather station, authorities added a "Y" to the front of the code, meaning "Yes" to indicate it had a weather station or some other letter to indicate it did not. When international codes were created in cooperation with the United States, because "Y" was seldom used in the United States, Canada simply used the weather station codes for its airports, changing the "Y" to a "Z" if it conflicted with an airport code already in use. The result is that most major Canadian airport codes start with "Y" followed by two letters in the city's name (for example,
YOW
for
O
tta
w
a
,
YWG
for
W
innipe
g
,
YYC
for
C
algar
y
, or
YVR
for
V
ancouve
r
), whereas other Canadian airports append the two-letter code of the radio beacons that were the closest to the actual airport, such as
YQX
in
Gander
or
YXS
in
Prince George
.
[
citation needed
]
Four of the ten provincial capital airports in Canada have ended up with codes beginning with YY, including:
Canada's largest airport is YYZ
[9]
for
Toronto Pearson
(as YTZ was already allocated to
Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport
, the airport was given the station code of
Malton, Mississauga
, where it is located). YUL is used for
Montreal?Trudeau
(UL was the ID code for beacon in the city of
Kirkland
, now the location of Montreal?Trudeau). While these codes make it difficult for the public to associate them with a particular Canadian city, some codes have become popular in usage despite their cryptic nature, particularly at the largest airports. Toronto's code has entered pop culture in the form of "
YYZ
", a song by the rock band
Rush
, which utilizes the Morse code signal as a musical motif. Some airports have started using their IATA codes as
brand names
, such as
Calgary International Airport
(YYC)
[10]
and
Vancouver International Airport
(YVR).
[11]
New Zealand
[
edit
]
Numerous New Zealand airports use codes that contain the letter Z, to distinguish them from similar airport names in other countries. Examples include
HLZ
for
Hamilton
,
ZQN
for
Queenstown
,
and
WSZ
for
Westport
.
Naming conventions in general
[
edit
]
Predominantly, airport codes are named after the first three letters of the city in which it is located, for instance:
The code may also be a combination of the letters in its name, such as:
Some airports in the United States retained their NWS codes and simply appended an X at the end. Examples include:
Sometimes the airport code reflects pronunciation, rather than spelling, namely:
For many reasons, some airport codes do not fit the normal scheme described above. Some airports, for example, cross several municipalities or regions, and therefore, use codes derived from some of their letters, resulting in:
Other airports?particularly those serving cities with multiple airports?have codes derived from the name of the airport itself, for instance:
This is also true with some cities with a single airport (even if there is more than one airport in the metropolitan area of said city), such as BDL for
Hartford, Connecticut
's
B
ra
dl
ey International Airport
or
Baltimore's
BWI, for
B
altimore/
W
ashington
I
nternational Airport
; however, the latter also serves
Washington, D.C.
, alongside
Dulles International Airport
(IAD, for
I
nternational
A
irport
D
ulles) and
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport
(DCA, for
D
istrict of
C
olumbia
A
irport).
[7]
The code also sometimes comes from the airport's former name, such as
Orlando International Airport
's MCO (for
Mc
C
o
y Air Force Base), or Chicago's
O'Hare International Airport
, which is coded ORD for its original name:
Or
char
d
Field. In rare cases, the code comes from the airport's unofficial name, such as
Kahului Airport
's OGG (for local aviation pioneer Jimmy H
ogg
).
Cities with multiple commercial airports
[
edit
]
In large metropolitan areas, airport codes are often named after the airport itself instead of the city it serves, while another code is reserved which refers to the city itself which can be used to search for flights to any of its airports. For instance:
- Beijing
(BJS) ?
Capital
(PEK) and
Daxing
(PKX)
- Belo Horizonte
(BHZ) ?
Confins
(CNF) and
Pampulha
(PLU)
- Bucharest
(BUH) ?
Otopeni
(OTP) is named after the town of
Otopeni
where the airport is located, while the city also has a business airport inside the city limits named
B?neasa
(BBU).
- Buenos Aires
(BUE) ?
Ezeiza
(EZE) is named after the suburb in
Ezeiza Partido
where the airport is located, while
Aeroparque Jorge Newbery
(AEP) is in the city proper.
- Chicago
(CHI) ?
O'Hare
(ORD), named after Orchard Field, the airport's former name,
Midway
(MDW), and
Rockford
(RFD).
- Jakarta
(JKT) ?
Soekarno?Hatta
(CGK) is named after Cengkareng, the
district in which the airport is located
, while the city also has another airport,
Halim Perdanakusuma
(HLP). JKT used to refer to the city's former airport,
Kemayoran Airport
, which closed down in the mid-1980s.
- London
(LON) ?
Heathrow
(LHR),
Gatwick
(LGW),
City
(LCY),
[7]
Stansted
(STN),
Luton
(LTN), and
Southend
(SEN)
- Milan
(MIL) ?
Malpensa
(MXP),
Linate
(LIN), and
Orio al Serio
(BGY)
- Montreal
(YMQ) ?
Trudeau
(YUL),
Mirabel
(YMX), and
Metropolitan
(YHU)
- Moscow
(MOW) ?
Sheremetyevo
(SVO),
Domodedovo
(DME),
Vnukovo
(VKO),
Zhukovsky
(ZIA), and business airport
Ostafyevo
(OSF)
- New York City
(NYC) ?
John F. Kennedy
(JFK, formerly Idlewild (IDL)),
LaGuardia
(LGA), and
Newark
(EWR)
- Osaka
(OSA) ?
Itami
(ITM, formerly OSA),
Kansai
(KIX), and
Kobe
(UKB)
- Paris
(PAR) ?
Orly
(ORY),
Charles de Gaulle
(CDG),
Le Bourget
(LBG), and
Beauvais
(BVA)
- Rio de Janeiro
(RIO) ?
Galeao
(GIG) and
Santos Dumont
(SDU)
- Rome
(ROM) ?
Fiumicino
(FCO) and
Ciampino
(CIA)
- Sao Paulo
(SAO) ?
Congonhas
(CGH),
Guarulhos
(GRU), and
Campinas
(VCP)
- Sapporo
(SPK) ?
Chitose
(CTS) and
Okadama
(OKD)
- Seoul
(SEL) ?
Incheon
(ICN) and
Gimpo
(GMP, formerly SEL)
- Stockholm
(STO) ?
Arlanda
(ARN),
Bromma
(BMA),
Nykoping?Skavsta
(NYO), and
Vasteras
(VST)
- Tenerife
(TCI) ?
Tenerife North
(TFN) and
Tenerife South
(TFS)
- Tokyo
(TYO) ?
Haneda
(HND, formerly TYO) and
Narita
(NRT)
- Toronto
(YTO) ?
Pearson
(YYZ),
Billy Bishop
(YTZ),
Hamilton
(YHM), and
Waterloo
(YKF)
- Washington, D.C.
(WAS) ?
Dulles
(IAD),
Reagan
(DCA), and
Baltimore?Washington
(BWI)
Or using a code for the city in one of the major airports and then assigning another code to another airport:
- Almaty
(ALA) ?
Self-named
(ALA) and
Burundai
(BXJ)
- Bangkok
(BKK) ?
Suvarnabhumi
(BKK) and
Don Mueang
(DMK, formerly BKK)
- Belfast
(BFS) ?
International
(BFS) and
George Best
(BHD)
- Berlin
(BER) ?
Self-named
(BER). The city also previously had three airports,
Tempelhof
(THF),
Schonefeld
(SXF) and
Tegel
(TXL), with THF and TXL both now closed. The former Berlin Schonefeld Airport was absorbed into Berlin Brandenburg Airport, with the old Schonefeld terminal becoming
Terminal 5
.
- Chengdu
(CTU) ?
Shuangliu
(CTU),
Tianfu
(TFU), and
Huaizhou
(HZU; zh)
[12]
- Colombo
(CMB) ?
Bandaranaike
(CMB) and
Ratmalana
(RML)
- Dakar
(DKR) ?
Senghor
(DKR) and
Diass
(DSS)
- Dallas?Fort Worth
(DFW) ?
Self-named
(DFW),
Love Field
(DAL),
Meacham
(FTW),
Alliance
(AFW), and
Addison
(ADS)
- Dubai
(DXB) ?
Self-named
(DXB) and
Al Maktoum
(DWC)
- Glasgow
(GLA) ?
International
(GLA) and
Prestwick
(PIK)
- Houston
(HOU) ?
Hobby
(HOU),
George Bush Intercontinental
(IAH), and
Ellington
(EFD)
- Istanbul
(IST) ?
Self-named
(IST),
Sabiha Gokcen
(SAW), and
Ataturk
(ISL, formerly IST)
- Johannesburg
(JNB) ?
O. R. Tambo (formerly Jan Smuts)
(JNB) and
Lanseria
(HLA)
- Kuala Lumpur
(KUL) ?
Sepang
(KUL) and
Subang
(SZB, formerly KUL)
- Kyiv
(IEV) ?
Zhuliany
(IEV) and
Boryspil
(KBP)
- Los Angeles
(LAX) ?
Self-named
(LAX),
San Bernardino
(SBD),
Ontario
(ONT),
Orange County
(SNA),
Van Nuys
(VNY),
Palmdale
(PMD),
Long Beach
(LGB), and
Burbank
(BUR)
- Medellin
(MDE) ?
Jose Maria Cordova
(MDE) and
Olaya Herrera
(EOH)
- Mexico City
(MEX) ?
Self-named
(MEX) and
Felipe Angeles
(NLU)
- Melbourne
(MEL) ?
Tullamarine
(MEL),
Essendon
(MEB), and
Avalon
(AVV)
- Miami
(MIA) ?
Self-named
(MIA),
Fort Lauderdale
(FLL), and
West Palm Beach
(PBI)
- Nagoya
(NGO) ?
Centrair
(NGO) and
Komaki
(NKM, formerly NGO)
- San Diego
?
Self-named
(SAN) and
Tijuana
(TIJ). TIJ is physically located in
Tijuana
,
Mexico
, but offers access directly to and from the US via the
Cross Border Xpress
.
- San Francisco
(SFO) ?
Self-named
(SFO),
Oakland
(OAK),
San Jose?Mineta
(SJC), and
Sonoma?Schulz
(STS)
- Seattle
(SEA) ?
Tacoma (Sea?Tac)
(SEA),
Boeing Field
(BFI), and
Paine Field
(PAE)
- Shanghai
(SHA) ?
Pudong
(PVG) and
Hongqiao
(SHA)
- Taipei
(TPE) ?
Taoyuan (formerly Chiang Kai-shek)
(TPE) and
Songshan
(TSA, formerly TPE)
- Tehran
(THR) ?
Imam Khomeini
(IKA) and
Mehrabad
(THR)
When different cities with the same name each have an airport, they need to be assigned different codes. Examples include:
- Juan Santamaria International Airport
(SJO) is in
Alajuela
, serving the capital
San Jose de Costa Rica
. While
Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport
(SJC) is in
San Jose, California
, the United States.
- Birmingham?Shuttlesworth International Airport
(BHM) is in
Birmingham, Alabama
, the United States and
Birmingham Airport
(BHX) is in
Birmingham
, England, United Kingdom.
- Portland International Jetport
(PWM) is in
Portland, Maine
, while
Portland International Airport
(PDX) is in
Portland, Oregon
.
- Manchester Airport
(MAN) is in
Manchester
, England, United Kingdom, while
Manchester-Boston Regional Airport
(MHT) is in
Manchester
,
New Hampshire
, United States.
- Arturo Merino Benitez International Airport
(SCL) is in
Santiago
, Chile; while
Antonio Maceo Airport
(SCU) is in
Santiago
, Cuba;
Santiago?Rosalia de Castro Airport
(SCQ) is in
Santiago de Compostela
, Spain; and
Cibao International Airport
(STI) serves
Santiago de los Caballeros
, Dominican Republic.
Sometimes, a new airport is built, replacing the old one, leaving the city's new "major" airport (or the only remaining airport) code to no longer correspond with the city's name. The original airport in Nashville, Tennessee, was built in 1936 as part of the Works Progress Administration and called Berry Field with the designation, BNA. A new facility known as Nashville International Airport was built in 1987 but still uses BNA. This is in conjunction to rules aimed to avoid confusion that seem to apply in the United States, which state that "the first and second letters or second and third letters of an identifier may not be duplicated with less than 200
nautical miles
separation."
[7]
Thus, Washington, D.C. area's three airports all have radically different codes: IAD for
Washington?Dulles
, DCA for
Washington?Reagan
(District of Columbia Airport), and BWI for
Baltimore
(Baltimore?Washington International, formerly BAL).
[7]
Since HOU is used for
William P. Hobby Airport
, the new
Houston?Intercontinental
became IAH.
[7]
The code BKK was originally assigned to
Bangkok?Don Mueang
and was later transferred to
Suvarnabhumi Airport
, while the former adopted DMK. The code ISK was originally assigned to
Gandhinagar Airport
(Nashik's old airport) and later on transferred to
Ozar Airport
(Nashik's current airport).
Shanghai?Hongqiao
retained the code SHA, while the newer
Shanghai?Pudong
adopted PVG. The opposite was true for
Berlin
: the airport
Berlin?Tegel
used the code TXL, while its smaller counterpart
Berlin?Schonefeld
used SXF; the
Berlin Brandenburg Airport
has the airport code BER, which is also part of its branding. The airports of
Hamburg
(HAM) and
Hannover
(HAJ) are less than 100 nautical miles (190 km) apart and therefore share the same first and middle letters, indicating that this rule might be followed only in Germany.
Cities or airports changing names
[
edit
]
Many cities retain historical names in their airport codes, even after having undergone an official name/spelling/transliteration change:
- In
Angola
:
NDD
for
Sumbe
(formerly Novo Redondo),
NOV
for
Huambo
(formerly Nova Lisboa),
PGI
for
Chitato
(formerly Portugalia),
VHC
for
Saurimo
(formerly Henrique de Carvalho),
SDD
for
Lubango
(formerly Sa da Bandeira),
SPP
for
Menongue
(formerly Serpa Pinto), and
SVP
for
Cuito
(formerly Silva Porto)
- In
Armenia
:
LWN
for
Gyumri
(formerly Leninakan)
- In
Azerbaijan
:
KVD
for
Ganja
(formerly Kirovabad)
- In
Bangladesh
:
DAC
for
Dhaka
(formerly Dacca)
- In
Cambodia
:
KOS
for
Sihanoukville
(formerly Kampong Som)
- In
Canada
:
YFB
for
Iqaluit
(formerly Frobisher Bay), YHU for
MET ? Montreal Metropolitan Airport
(formerly Montreal/Saint-Hubert Airport)
- In
China
:
PEK
for Beijing (formerly Peking),
TSN
for
Tianjin
(formerly Tientsin),
CKG
for
Chongqing
(formerly Chungking),
NKG
for
Nanjing
(formerly Nanking),
TNA
for
Jinan
(formerly Tsinan),
TAO
for
Qingdao
(formerly Tsingtao),
CTU
for
Chengdu
(formerly Chengtu),
KWE
for
Guiyang
(formerly Kweiyang),
SIA
for
Xi'an
(formerly Sian), and
CAN
for
Guangzhou
(formerly Canton). The older IATA codes follow
Chinese postal romanization
, introduced in 1906, officially abolished in 1964 and in use well into the 1980s, while gradually superseded by
Pinyin
.
- DYG
for
Zhangjiajie
(formerly Dayong; a genuine change in city name, rather than just a change of romanization)
- In
Czechia
:
GTW
for Hole?ov Airport serving
Zlin
(formerly Gottwaldov)
- In the
Democratic Republic of Congo
:
PFR
for
Ilebo
(formerly Port-Francqui)
- In
Fiji
:
PTF
for
Malolo Lailai
(formerly Plantation Island, Fiji)
- In
Greenland
: most airports, including
SFJ
for
Kangerlussuaq
(formerly Søndre Strømfjord),
GOH
for
Nuuk
(formerly Godthab) and
JAV
for
Ilulissat
(formerly Jakobshavn)
- In
India
:
BOM
for
Mumbai
(formerly Bombay),
CCU
for
Kolkata
(formerly Calcutta),
MAA
for
Chennai
(formerly Madras), and
CNN
for
Kannur
(formerly Cannanore)
- In
Indonesia
:
TKG
for
Bandar Lampung
(formerly Tanjung Karang),
UPG
for
Makassar
(formerly Ujung Pandang). In addition, when the
Enhanced Indonesian Spelling System
was introduced in 1972, a few older IATA codes retained the previous spelling:
BTJ
for
Banda Aceh
(formerly Banda Atjeh),
DJJ
for
Jayapura
(formerly Djajapura), and
JOG
for
Yogyakarta
(formerly Jogjakarta).
- In
Kazakhstan
:
NQZ
for
Astana
(formerly Nur-Sultan and Tselinograd (TSE)),
SCO
for
Aktau
(formerly Shevchenko),
GUW
for
Atyrau
(formerly Guryev),
KOV
for
Kokshetau
(formerly Kokchetav),
DMB
for
Taraz
(formerly Dzhambyl),
PLX
for
Semey
(formerly Semipalatinsk),
CIT
for
Shymkent
(formerly Chimkent), and
DZN
for
Jezkazgan
(formerly Dzhezkazgan)
- In
Kyrgyzstan
:
FRU
for
Bishkek
(formerly Frunze)
- In
Madagascar
:
DIE
for
Antsiranana
(formerly Diego-Suarez),
WPB
for
Boriziny
(formerly Port Berge)
- In
Moldova
:
RMO
for
Chi?in?u
(formerly Kishinev (KIV))
- In
Montenegro
:
TGD
for
Podgorica
(formerly Titograd)
- In
Mozambique
:
VJB
for
Xai-Xai
(formerly Joao Belo),
VPY
for
Chimoio
(formerly Vila Pery),
FXO
for
Cuamba
(formerly Nova Freixo), and
TGS
for
Chokwe
(formerly Vila Trigo de Morais)
- In
Myanmar
:
RGN
for
Yangon
(formerly Rangoon),
SNW
for
Thandwe
(formerly Sandoway), and
TVY
for
Dawei
(formerly Tavoy)
- In
Pakistan
:
LYP
for
Faisalabad
when the city changed its name from Lyallpur to Faisalabad in honour of the
King Faisal of Saudi Arabia
.
- In
Russia
:
LED
for
St. Petersburg
(formerly Leningrad),
GOJ
for
Nizhny Novgorod
(formerly Gorky),
SVX
for
Yekaterinburg
(formerly Sverdlovsk),
KUF
for
Samara
(formerly Kuybyshev),
OGZ
for
Vladikavkaz
(formerly Ordzhonikidze), and
KLD
for
Tver
(formerly Kalinin) and others
- In
South Africa
:
NLP
for
Mbombela
(formerly Nelspruit),
PLZ
for
Gqeberha
(formerly Port Elizabeth), and
PTG
for
Polokwane
(formerly Pietersburg)
- In
South Korea
:
KAG
for
Gangneung
(formerly Kangnung),
PUS
for
Busan
(formerly Pusan), and
TAE
for
Daegu
(formerly Taegu)
- In
Tajikistan
:
LBD
for
Khujand
(formerly Leninabad)
- In
Turkmenistan
:
KRW
for
Turkmenba?y
(formerly Krasnovodsk),
CRZ
for
Turkmenabat
(formerly Chardzhev), and
TAZ
for
Da?oguz
(formerly Tashauz)
- In
Ukraine
:
IEV
for
Kyiv
(formerly Kiev),
VSG
for
Luhansk
(formerly Voroshilovgrad),
KGO
for
Kropyvnytskyi
(formerly Kirovograd),
LWO
for
Lviv
(formerly Lwow while part of Poland until 1939, and still called Lvov in Russian), and
IFO
for
Ivano-Frankivsk
(in Soviet times spelt in Russian as Ivano-Frankovsk);
- In
Vietnam
:
SGN
for
Ho Chi Minh City
(formerly Saigon)
- In
Western Sahara
:
VIL
for
Dakhla
(formerly Villa Cisneros)
Some airport codes are based on previous names associated with a present airport, often with a military heritage. These include:
- Chicago's
O'Hare
, which is assigned ORD based on its old name of Orchard Field. It was expanded and renamed O'Hare in the mid-1950s.
- Rickenbacker International Airport
uses LCK, for its former name of Lockbourne Air Force Base.
- Travis Air Force Base
uses SUU, for its former name of Fairfield-Suisun Army Air Base.
- North Texas Regional Airport
uses PNX, for its former name of
Perrin Air Force Station
.
- Fresno Yosemite International Airport
uses the code FAT, derived from a previous name of the airport, Fresno Air Terminal.
- Orlando International Airport
was founded as Orlando Army Air Field #2 but uses MCO for having been renamed
McCoy Air Force Base
in 1959 in honor of a wing commander who crashed at the field in 1958. It was converted in the early 1960s to joint civilian/military use and renamed Orlando Jetport at McCoy, then renamed Orlando International Airport in the early 1980s.
- Spokane International Airport
was so named in 1960 but goes by GEG because it was built on the former Geiger Field, renamed in 1941 for Major
Harold Geiger
when the US Army acquired it.
- Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport
was originally named Moisant Field after daredevil aviator
John Moisant
, who died in 1910 in an airplane crash on agricultural land where the airport is now located. Its IATA code MSY was derived from Moisant Stock Yards, as Lakefront Airport retained the code NEW.
- Lehigh Valley International Airport
uses ABE, for its former name of
Allentown
?
Bethlehem
?
Easton
International Airport.
- William R. Fairchild International Airport
uses CLM, for its former name of Clallam County Municipal Landing Field.
- Chicago Executive Airport
uses PWK, for its former name, Palwaukee Municipal Airport (which was derived from its location on Palatine Road and
Milwaukee Avenue
).
- Dallas Executive Airport
used RBD, for its former name, Redbird Airport.
- TSTC Waco Airport
uses CNW, as it was formerly
Connally Air Force Base
.
- Glacier Park International Airport
uses FCA, for its former name Flathead County Airport.
Some airports are named for an administrative division or nearby city, rather than the one they are located in:
- Juan Santamaria International Airport
is located in
Alajuela province
, but since it is so close to the capital city of
San Jose, Costa Rica
, the airport serves the whole
Central Valley
using SJO.
- Grand Strand Airport
uses CRE for the former municipality of
Crescent Beach, South Carolina
.
- San Ignacio Town Airstrip
, located in
San Ignacio, Belize
, uses CYD because it is located in the
Cayo District
.
- Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport
in
Crystal City, Virginia
uses DCA for the
District of Columbia
(DC) and Arlington.
- Prince Naif bin Abdulaziz International Airport
in
Buraidah
, Saudi Arabia uses ELQ for the
Al-Qassim Province
(El Qassim)
- Damazin Airport
in Sudan uses RSS, for the nearby
Roseires Dam
.
Other airport codes are of obscure origin, and each has its own peculiarities:
- Nashville uses
BNA
for its former name as Berry Field, henceforth
B
erry
N
ashville
A
irport.
- Louisville
Muhammad Ali International Airport is
SDF
for
S
tandifor
d
F
ield, its original name (Elisha David Standiford who, as a businessman and legislator, played an important role in Louisville transportation history and owned part of the land on which the airport was built.)
[13]
- Knoxville
uses
TYS
for
Charles McGhee
Tys
on
, whose family donated the land for the first airport in Knoxville
- Kahului
, the main gateway into
Maui
, uses
OGG
in homage to Hawaiian aviation pioneer Bertram J. H
ogg
- Gold Coast
, Australia, uses
OOL
due to its former name as C
ool
angatta Airport,
named after the suburb
in which it is located
- Sunshine Coast
, Australia, uses
MCY
due to its former names
M
aroo
c
h
y
dore Airport and
M
aroo
c
h
y
dore-Sunshine Coast Airport. It is actually located in
Marcoola
rather than Maroochydore.
- Buli Airport
uses PGQ, for its location in the
Pekaulang
administrative division.
[
citation needed
]
- New River Valley Airport
uses PSK for its location in
P
ula
sk
i County, Virginia
.
[14]
- Rio Amazonas Airport
uses PTZ for its location in
P
as
t
a
z
a Province
.
[15]
- Brackett Field
uses POC, as it was named after a flying enthusiast and faculty member of nearby
Po
mona
C
ollege
.
[16]
- Yan'an Nanniwan Airport
inherited the ENY code from the city of
Yan'an
's old airport,
Y
a
n
'an
E
rshilipu Airport
.
- Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport
uses the code ECP, which when proposed was thought it could stand for "
E
veryone
C
an
P
arty"
[17]
In Asia, codes that do not correspond with their city's names include
Niigata
's
KIJ
,
Nanchang
's
KHN
and
Pyongyang
's
FNJ
.
Multiple codes for a single airport
[
edit
]
EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg
, which serves three countries, has three airport codes: BSL, MLH, EAP.
- The French part of the airport is assigned MLH, for
M
u
lh
ouse,
France
- The Swiss part of the airport is assigned BSL, for
B
a
s
e
l
, Switzerland
- The Airport has a neutral code, EAP, for
E
uro
A
ir
p
ort.
Airport codes using the English name of the city
[
edit
]
Some cities have a name in their respective language which is different from the name in English, yet the airport code represents
only
the English name. Examples include:
- BKK
?
Bangkok
, Thailand (Thai:
???????
,
romanized:
Krung Thep
)
- CAI
?
Cairo
, Egypt (Arabic:
???????
,
romanized:
al-Q?hirah
)
- CGN
?
Cologne
, Germany (German:
Koln
)
- CPH
?
Copenhagen
, Denmark (Danish:
København
)
- DUB
?
Dublin
, Ireland (Irish:
Baile Atha Cliath
)
- FLR
?
Florence
, Italy (Italian:
Firenze
)
- GVA
?
Geneva
, Switzerland (French:
Geneve
)
- HAV
?
Havana
, Cuba (Spanish:
La Habana
)
- PRG
?
Prague
, Czechia (Czech:
Praha
)
- VCE
?
Venice
, Italy (Italian:
Venezia
)
- VIE
?
Vienna
, Austria (German:
Wien
)
- HAN
-
Hanoi
, Vietnam (Vietnamese:
Ha N?i
)
- PQC
-
Phu Quoc
, Vietnam (Vietnamese:
Phu Qu?c
)
Scarcity of codes
[
edit
]
Due to scarcity of codes, some airports are given codes with letters not found in their names:
Airports without codes
[
edit
]
A lot of minor airfields without scheduled passenger traffic have
ICAO codes
but not IATA codes, since the four letter codes allow more number of codes, and IATA codes are mainly used for passenger services such as tickets, and ICAO codes by pilots. In the US, such airfields use
FAA codes
instead of ICAO.
There are airports with scheduled service for which there are ICAO codes but not IATA codes, such as Nkhotakota Airport/Tangole Airport in
Malawi
or
Ch?fu Airport
in Tokyo, Japan. There are also several minor airports in
Russia
(e.g.,
Omsukchan Airport
) which lack IATA codes and instead use
internal Russian codes
for booking. Flights to these airports cannot be booked through the international air booking systems or have international luggage transferred there, and thus, they are booked instead through the airline or a domestic booking system. Several
heliports in Greenland
have 3-letter codes used internally which might be IATA codes for airports in faraway countries.
There are several airports with scheduled service that have not been assigned ICAO codes that do have IATA codes, especially in the U.S. For example, several airports in Alaska have scheduled commercial service, such as
Stebbins
and
Nanwalek
, which use FAA codes instead of ICAO codes.
Thus, neither system completely includes all airports with scheduled service.
Use in colloquial speech
[
edit
]
Some airports are identified in colloquial speech by their IATA code. Examples include
LAX
and
JFK
.
[18]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]