![]() Of course, some codes come from the airport name instead of the city name, even if the city doesn’t have multiple airports.Īnd in some cities with multiple airports, the older one kept the most obvious code, while the newer one gets one based on the airport name. In that case, the code sometimes reflects other identifiers such as the name of the airport itself, like in New York City, where JFK stands for the John F. The first two seem logical, right? But what about when there is more than one airport in a city? The airport code can also reflect a combination of letters that make it relatively obvious that the code refers to the city, like HKG for Hong Kon g, JNB for Joha nnes burg, or SFO for San Francisc o. Often, cities choose codes based on the first three letters of their name, for example, AMS for Amsterdam, SYD for Sydney, and MEX for Mexico City. I personally love this, and the reason I know pretty much every major airport code in the world is that when I see one I don’t recognize, I use that tool instead of Googling it like I would for any question I ever ask myself. In the next article about codes ( sign up for free), I’ll talk specifically about Canadian airport codes (well, more than I will in #8 below) and share a useful tool to know more about any airport code. Some codes also use a combination of different practices from these 8. As I said, some are very logical, but there are a couple of much harder ones. ![]() There are a couple of explanations for how airports ended up with their 3-letter codes. After the 1960s, the IATA took steps to add a standardized process to prevent any confusion. However, as air travel became more popular, there was an increasing number of airports, including in cities with no NWS code, so 3-letter codes were introduced. They always have 3 letters and there’s no ambiguity (if you know what they are).įor those interested in the origin of airport codes, i n the 1930s, airports in the US would use the 2-letter city codes from the National Weather Service (NWS). In the US, flying to “Portland” could mean Oregon’s largest city or Maine’s largest city… having to specify flying to “Portland, Oregon” each time is also unpractical. Also, many cities around the world share the same name, not to mention even within the same country. They are important to quickly distinguish specific airports instead of having unstandardized long-form identifiers, which is especially useful when a city has multiple different airports, which is the case in most major cities.įor example, flying to “New York City” would be too vague, and having to specify flying to “New York City – LaGuardia” each time would be unpractical. ![]() The code is always unique to each airport. The 3-letter code is the location identifier that is attributed by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which is based in Canada by the way. Here are the details (Edit: for those who want the pillow pictured, it’s available here). Many airport codes’ origins are straightforward, but others have interesting explanations that I find fun to discover myself. Airport codes refer to a particular airport and whether it’s a big or a small one, almost all commercial airports have a code assigned to them.Īnd it’s quite interesting, even for those who aren’t Aviation Geeks like me, if you are intellectually curious in general. So it’s a great time to learn more about the topic.Įven if you are an experienced traveler, you might not know much about these 3-letter geocodes, but they are vital in the world of air travel. Our funny image about the new airport codes you need to learn during the coronavirus crisis was pretty popular. But there’s also a 3-letter acronym that goes with the destination and departure city: the all-important 3-letter airport code. You may be familiar with the main details on your boarding pass: your name, seat number, departure and destination. ![]()
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