When the IATA Code isn't obvious

[jabird]

I know there are lists that do the rounds, but I've never seen an explanation for FRU = Bishkek? Manas International Airport - ok, it was never going to be MIA, but FRU?

[Ringwayman]

FRUnze is the old name for Bishkek.

[jabird]

Thanks, that explains it :) Normally there are good explanations based on the airport, hadn't looked up the city.

Still don't understand why PEK is still used for Beijing Capital, aka BJS, especially when there is also Nanyuan (NAY), and a new one on the way. Shouldn't PEK be used for the city as a whole, like ROM, MIL etc, even if it is still the old name?

[groundhogbhx]

Probably because when the codes were first issued it was known as Peking, much like Mumbai is still BOM.

[jabird]

Yes, but the BJS code has been created since the name change, and NAY is also a relatively recent opening.

You would have thought they'd be keener to use the new code. The new terminal was still British designed & European bank financed, but I don't expect my local 'Chinese' takeway to serve up Beijing Duck anytime soon (afaik they are mainly from HKG anyway).

Not sure what code proposed Navi Mumbai International Airport will take, and whether that will result in a new code for BOM.

[BKS Air Transport]

Ok, so as we're on this topic (which is no doubt destined for another forum), could somebody please explain

1. MME

2. Why letters are sometimes included at the end which are not in the name? ABZ, BHX, HUY, PMI, MNI, LAX spring to mind as examples. It can't surely be due to a lack of possible letters and combinations.

Thanks.

[jabird]

BKS,

In response to (2), it is largely a question of the limitations of only having 3 letters. Many of the best are already taken, so I presume BirmingHaM Al had first dibbs on BHM, although BIR went to Biratnagar, Nepal, well down the pecking order.

DXB is unusual in that the extra letter is in the middle.

So my guess for MME is that the double M is either superflous, or it is for Middlesbrough + Middleton, both of which could have used ME.

I also presume PMI = Palma, Majorca, Island, and MNI = Montserrat Island, similar for GCI & ACI, the C for Channel.

[WHBM]

Don't look for precision in the matching of IATA city to airport code. There are actually not many good matching ones left, if somewhere else got there first (and this would have been a long time ago) then those choosing the codes have to come up with something else. One of the features of DXB and (particularly) LAX is that they have actually turned out more memorable than if they had been plain DUB or LOS (both used elsewhere). You will generally find that (comparatively) newer airports have gone for the more contrived codes; LAX was not the original airport of Los Angeles, pre-war airlines used Burbank, while Dubai was actually one of the last Gulf points to get an airport, previously it was served by Sharjah close by. YYZ for Toronto Pearson is a particularly tortuous bit of logic to explain, which I actually did on another post some time ago.

http://www.pprune.org/spectators-balcony-spotters-corner/434528-icao-codes.html#post6077263

Sticking with codes for cities which have changed name is common, there being no easy way to change them without all sorts of errors arising, hence St Petersburg in Russia remains LED for example.

In the professional aviation world separate 4-character codes devised by ICAO are used instead. Thus London Heathrow LHR is EGLL in that sequence, which most of the posters here would be more familiar with. There is logic there as well, but to a geographical pattern, not based on a mnemonic of the city name.

[jabird]

Sticking with codes for cities which have changed name is common, there being no easy way to change them without all sorts of errors arising, hence St Petersburg in Russia remains LED for example.

Very true, I wasn't aware of the previous name for Bishkek, hence starting the thread. However, in the case of PEK we have both an additional airport (NAY), and substantial expansion at the original airport - the largest terminal in the world (when it opened), not to mention the Olympics, all reasons why there might have been a move towards using the BJS code, which has at least been created, unlike LED etc.



In the professional aviation world separate 4-character codes devised by ICAO are used instead. Thus London Heathrow LHR is EGLL in that sequence, which most of the posters here would be more familiar with. There is logic there as well, but to a geographical pattern, not based on a mnemonic of the city name.

I am well aware of the usage of these codes, but as a regular ppruner, but commentator from the 'outside', I don't use them. I think your point about LAX is very true - people say they are going to 'LAX', and there's even a song about it! But JFK DID become JFK after IDW, cue 'Angel of Harlem' :)

I think there is a reasonable understanding of the IATA codes in 'general' speak - if I picked someone randomly in the street and said I was going to 'NCL, EDI and GLA' tomorrow, there is a reasonable chance they could work out where I was going. I'm afraid to admit, I couldn't give you the ICAO codes to any of those cities without looking them up, SLF have no reason to use them, and as fewere people check bags these days, I wonder if the usage of IATA codes will diminish too.

As it happens, my journey tomorrow is by train, and my final destination is STR - but the only people I ever find using station codes are rail employees. Clue: It isn't somewhere they make nice cars, and you can't even catch a ferry from there either:ugh:

[jabird]

I should also point out that as someone who has reluctantly had to do a certain amount of database programming in my time, GLA makes no sense.

Databases should resolve, but this needs disambiguation - do you mean the city of Glasgow, or specifically Glasgow International Airport (as opposed to Prestwick). There are a few others - DUS, BRU, BFS etc, but afaik, in these cases, the additional airport has come into play more recently.

I have often wondered why a new code wasn't introduced in these circumstances, but I suppose it is a simple question of airport politics - it was bad enough having the battle over Weeze being allowed to call itself 'Dusseldorf' - imagine the chaos if the 'original' Dusseldorf had to change to DSI, or whatever. But could Dusseldorf (both) have been DSF, etc?

[Cloud1]

It was Almeria (LEI) that threw me back when we use to go there!

[jabird]

Not immediately obvious, but not the only one like that.

aLmErIa
nEWaRk

etc

And AGP is also a good one ;)

[Aero Mad]

ACI: Alderney
GCI: Guernsey

so you'd think that Jersey would be JCI. But no, it is in fact:

JER: Jersey.

[PAXboy]

Some do change and you can see the politics in this one:

Salisbury in Rhodesia = SAY (If memory serves)
Harare in Zimbabwe = HRE

[TCX69]

A few that seem to have no logic to them.. Or it's not very obvious!

Baku = GYD
Santorini = JTR
Skiathos = JSI
Thessaloniki = SKG

:confused:

[jabird]

Baku used to have the obvious code BAK, in 2004 the airport was changed to be named after Heydar Aliyev, which explains the YD, but HYD = Hyderabad, G & H quite close?

Greek alphabet doesn't always transpose, I have always got mixed up with that lot!

[Fairdealfrank]

"Not sure what code proposed Navi Mumbai International Airport will take, and whether that will result in a new code for BOM."

Perhaps RUZ for the existing Santa CRUZ (or whatever it's called this month!) airport and PVL for the new airport at PanVeL, with BOM retained for the city code?

"So my guess for MME is that the double M is either superflous, or it is for Middlesbrough + Middleton, both of which could have used ME."

Exactly, Middlesbrough-MiddlEton St George is named after the adjacant village and former Royal Air Force base.

"I should also point out that as someone who has reluctantly had to do a certain amount of database programming in my time, GLA makes no sense."

It could: GLasgow-Abbotsinch, named either after the former Royal navy airfield or the nearby pub of the same name. Agree that it can be confused with the city code.

"Some do change and you can see the politics in this one:

Salisbury in Rhodesia = SAY (If memory serves)
Harare in Zimbabwe = HRE"

Maybe the "HRE" code was available at the time of the changeover. "SAY" could have been recycled for the new "London West" (Boris 2) airport on Salisbury plain, except that it has gone to Siena, Italy.

In fact a lot of the stranger codes can be explained by what is available at the time.

[Capetonian]

Surprised that nobody has mentioned YEG YUL YVR YYZ and the many other Canadian codes which lack logic.

There are others where one can find a thread :
CWL - Cardiff WaLes

It's also worth bearing in mind that city codes (LON MOW etc) are used for several purposes by reservations systems (GDSs).

An availability request for flights from LON to MOW would give all routings, e.g. LHR-SVO, LGW-DME, LTN-DME ..... whereas a request such as LGW-SVO would filter.

The codes are also used by GDSs for hotel and car database purposes, so a request for a hotel/car rental at LHR would, by default, give locations loaded under that code, therefore Heathrow airport hotels and car rental outlets, as well as those in Staines, Uxbridge, etc. A request for LON would give hotels in London.

Taking it a step further, there is also a situation where a city code is shared with an airport code and used for the main airport, eg, SIN, but there is another airport with its own code. BKK is another example, where BKK is now used for the new Suvarnabhumi airport and the old Don Muang has another code (forget what it is).

In Europe a lot of railway stations have IATA or pseudo IATA codes used for GDS purposes, such as QQP for Paddington, and the station serving airports such as AMS, ZRH, FRA have codes.

Trying to remember codes is not a good idea. Years ago I did a magnificent wind up on a young sales clerk in an agency who issued someone a ticket to Los Angeles but in the fare construction part where you had to write the codes she wrote LOS instead of LAX. LOS is of course Lagos, and we got someone to phone her and pretend to be the passenger, 'phoning from Lagos! She was a bit more careful about codes after that.

When I worked for a shipping agency we used to send lots of seamen to FUK.

[WHBM]

Surprised that nobody has mentioned YEG YUL YVR YYZ and the many other Canadian codes which lack logic.Follow the link in my post 8, above.

[Capetonian]

Thanks WHBM I'd missed that and it is interesting.

[LGS6753]

Capetonian -
"When I worked for a shipping agency we used to send lots of seamen to FUK."

Superfluous 'a'? :E

[jabird]

"When I worked for a shipping agency we used to send lots of seamen to FUK."

Was that a Finnish agency with an office in Johor Bahru south? SIN to FUK then to HEL?

[stab3.5up]

Who decided that canada wud all start with y?

[WHBM]

Who decided that Canada would all start with Y?
Follow the link in my post 8, above.

[The SSK]

Most of the smaller Greek airports start wih J

Re. Newark, in the US, airport codes beginning with N are reserved for Naval Air Stations. There may conceivably be one or two exceptions.

[jabird]

Re. Newark, in the US, airport codes beginning with N are reserved for Naval Air Stations. There may conceivably be one or two exceptions.

So NYC city code is ok, but not NWR?

[The SSK]

I think giving the NYC code to Yarrow County Naval Air Station (or whatever) would be taking the pedantic approach a bit too far. Sometimes even Americans have to compromise.

Nashville, New Orleans, Newport News, Norfolk ... I can't think offhand of that many other US cities starting with N