How do airlines get their codes?

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), an arm of the United Nations that ensures aviation regulations jive across different countries and continents, assigns codes generally used by air traffic control and by airlines in crafting their flight plans.



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Both IATA and ICAO are international organizations that oversee civil aviation operations. However, the IATA generally supports the airline industry, while the ICAO provides global standards for air transport operations. Furthermore, the IATA uses a different list of airport codes that passengers can easily relate to.

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ICAO airline designator These codes are unique by airline, unlike the IATA airline designator codes (see section above). The designators are listed in ICAO Document 8585: Designators for Aircraft Operating Agencies, Aeronautical Authorities and Services. ICAO codes have been issued since 1947.

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By partnering for mutual benefit, IATA works with governments, international organizations such as the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), and other relevant authorities to help the development of global value chains and to define the correct regulatory framework for the industry.

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The X in LAX
With the rapid growth in the aviation industry, in 1947, the identifiers expanded to three letters and LA received an extra letter to become LAX. The letter X does not otherwise have any specific meaning in this identifier.

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The only non-Contracting States are the Holy See and Liechtenstein.

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K ? United States The prefix K is generally reserved for the contiguous United States. The ICAO codes for these airports are usually the FAA location identifier prefixed with a K.

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Scotland's windswept island of Barra has the only airport in the world where scheduled flights land on a beach. Get a pilot's-eye-view of touchdown on this unique runway.

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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.

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The International Air Transport Association's (IATA) Location Identifier is a unique 3-letter code (also commonly known as IATA code) used in aviation and also in logistics to identify an airport.

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The ICAO airport codes, also known as location indicators, are the four-letter sequences used by pilots and air traffic controllers in their charts, on-board systems and in communications.

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