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ICAO airport code

The ICAO airport code is a four-letter alphanumeric code designating each airport around the world. These codes are defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization. The ICAO codes are used by air traffic control and airline operations such as flight planning . They are not the same as the IATA codes encountered by the general public, which are used for airline timetables, reservations, and baggage handling. ICAO codes are also used to identify weather stations, whether or not they are located at airports.

Unlike the IATA codes, the ICAO codes have a regional structure. In general, the first letter is allocated by continent and represents a country or group of countries within that continent. The second letter generally represents a country within that region, and the remaining two are used to identify each airport. The exception to this rule are larger countries that have single-letter country codes, where the remaining three letters identify the airport.

In the United States and Canada, most airports which have been assigned three-letter IATA codes use the same code with leading "K" or "C" as their ICAO code; e.g., YYC (Calgary International Airport, Calgary, Alberta) and CYYC, IAD (Dulles International Airport, Chantilly, Virginia) and KIAD. These codes are not to be confused with radio call signs, even though both countries use four-letter callsigns starting with those letters. A list of airports, sorted by IATA code, is available.


Prefixes

AG = Solomon Islands
AN = Nauru
AY = Papua New Guinea
BG = Greenland
BI = Iceland
C  = Canada
DA = Algeria
DB = Benin
DF = Burkina Faso
DG = Ghana
DI = Côte d'Ivoire
DN = Nigeria
DR = Niger
DT = Tunisia
DX = Togolese Republic
EB = Belgium
ED = Germany
EE = Estonia
EF = Finland
EG = United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
EH = Netherlands
EI = Ireland
EK = Denmark
EL = Luxembourg
EN = Norway
EP = Poland
ES = Sweden
ET = Germany
EV = Latvia
EY = Lithuania
FA = South Africa
FB = Botswana
FC = Republic of the Congo
FD = Swaziland
FE = Central African Republic
FG = Equatorial Guinea
FH = Azores, Ascension Island
FI = Mauritius
FJ = British Indian Ocean Territory
FK = Cameroon
FL = Zambia
FM = Comoros, Madagascar, Mayotte, Réunion
FN = Angola
FO = Gabon
FP = São Tomé and Príncipe
FQ = Mozambique
FS = Seychelles
FT = Chad
FV = Zimbabwe
FW = Malawi
FX = Lesotho
FY = Namibia
FZ = Democratic Republic of the Congo
GA = Mali
GB = The Gambia
GC = Canary Islands (Spain)
GF = Sierra Leone
GG = Guinea-Bissau
GL = Liberia
GM = Morocco
GO = Senegal
GQ = Mauritania
GS = Western Sahara
GU = Guinea
GV = Cape Verde
HA = Ethiopia
HB = Burundi
HC = Somalia
HE = Egypt
HF = Djibouti
HH = Eritrea
HK = Kenya
HL = Libya
HR = Rwanda
HS = Sudan
HT = Tanzania
HU = Uganda
K  = United States of America (Continental)
LA = Albania
LB = Bulgaria
LC = Cyprus
LD = Croatia
LE = Spain
LF = France
LG = Greece
LH = Hungary
LI = Italy
LJ = Slovenia
LK = Czech Republic
LL = Israel
LM = Malta
LN = Monaco
LO = Austria
LP = Portugal
LQ = Bosnia and Herzegovina
LR = Romania
LS = Switzerland
LT = Turkey
LU = Moldova
LW = Macedonia
LX = Gibraltar
LY = Serbia and Montenegro
LZ = Slovakia
MB = Turks and Caicos Islands
MD = Dominican Republic
MG = Guatemala
MH = Honduras
MK = Jamaica
MM = Mexico
MN = Nicaragua
MP = Panama
MR = Costa Rica
MS = El Salvador
MT = Haiti
MU = Cuba
MW = Cayman Islands
MY = Bahamas
MZ = Belize
NC = Cook Islands
NF = Fiji, Tonga
NG = Tuvalu
NI = Niue
NL = Wallis and Futuna
NS = Samoa
NT = French Polynesia
NV = Vanuatu
NW = New Caledonia
NZ = New Zealand
OA = Afghanistan
OB = Bahrain
OD = Yemen
OE = Saudi Arabia
OI = Iran
OJ = Jordan
OK = Kuwait
OL = Lebanon
OM = United Arab Emirates
OO = Oman
OP = Pakistan
OR = Iraq
OS = Syria
OT = Qatar
PA = United States of America (Alaska)
PB = Baker Island
PC = Phoenix Islands
PG = Northern Marianas, Guam
PH = United States of America (Hawaii)
PJ = Johnston Atoll
PK = Marshall Islands
PL = Kiribati
PM = Midway Island
PT = Federated States of Micronesia, Palau
PW = Wake Island
RC = Taiwan
RJ = Japan (also RO)
RK = South Korea
RP = Philippines
SA = Argentina
SB = Brazil
SC = Chile
SE = Ecuador
SF = Falkland Islands
SG = Paraguay
SK = Colombia
SL = Bolivia
SM = Suriname
SO = French Guiana
SP = Peru
SU = Uruguay
SV = Venezuela
SY = Guyana
TA = Antigua and Barbuda
TB = Barbados
TD = Dominica
TF = Guadeloupe
TG = Grenada
TI = U.S. Virgin Islands
TJ = Puerto Rico
TK = Saint Kitts and Nevis
TL = Saint Lucia
TN = Netherlands Antilles, Aruba
TQ = Anguilla
TR = Montserrat
TT = Trinidad and Tobago
TU = British Virgin Islands
TV = Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
TX = Bermuda
U  = Russia (except UA, UB, UG, UK, UM and UT)
UA = Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan
UB = Azerbaijan
UG = Armenia, Georgia
UK = Ukraine
UM = Belarus
UT = Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan
VA = India (also VE, VI and VO)
VC = Sri Lanka
VD = Cambodia
VG = Bangladesh
VH = Hong Kong
VL = Laos
VM = Macao
VN = Nepal
VQ = Bhutan
VR = Maldives
VT = Thailand
VV = Vietnam
VY = Myanmar
WA = Indonesia (also WI, WQ, WR)
WB = Malaysia (also WM), Brunei Darussalam
WP = Timor-Leste
WS = Singapore
Y  = Australia
Z  = People's Republic of China (except ZK and ZM)
ZK = North Korea
ZM = Mongolia

Some examples

EBBR: Belgium - Brussels International Airport, Brussels (IATA code BRU)
FAJS: South Africa - Johannesburg International Airport, Johannesburg (IATA code JNB)
KBOS: United States - Logan International Airport, Boston (IATA code BOS)
LIRF: Italy - Leonardo Da Vinci International Airport, Fiumicino, near Rome (IATA code FCO)
OMDB: United Arab Emirates - Dubai International Airport, Dubai (IATA code DXB)
YSCB: Australia - Canberra (IATA code CBR)

Others are less logical; very few UK airports are obvious, for example:
EGLL - London Heathrow, EGKK - London Gatwick (see also List of UK airfields)

Last updated: 10-20-2005 10:56:40
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