Origin of airport country prefixes
> Is the trivia question answer KJFK?
No although it's certainly a good try. Nor KLAX. (Clue: the airport in question has a four letter name).
Another good trivia question: which airport's code is the same letter repeated 4 times? (Only 1 afaik).
No although it's certainly a good try. Nor KLAX. (Clue: the airport in question has a four letter name).
Another good trivia question: which airport's code is the same letter repeated 4 times? (Only 1 afaik).
Hanoi Noi Bai International VVVV / HAN
Last edited by India Four Two; 17th Aug 2016 at 00:26.
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you are aware that this thread has descended into the world of super geekiness.
God, I love these types of threads.
I agree that Scottish airport prefixes are somewhat stupid in that they make no sense, but when has there ever been any sense in the aviation world.
Fats
God, I love these types of threads.
I agree that Scottish airport prefixes are somewhat stupid in that they make no sense, but when has there ever been any sense in the aviation world.
Fats
Wikipedia and Flightaware both show Noi Ban as VVNB...?
I quite like MUHA, sounds like a super-villain just getting starting on his trademark super-villain laugh. So it's kind of appropriate that its Havana.
MYAS (Sandy Point, Bahamas) has a certain schoolboy humour to it.
British airport codes really seem to have been invented by an anal compulsive with a bad hangover. I mean, in what respect is it helpful that the third letter reflects the communication centre that the airport is (well, was once) associated with? And you have to admit that making EGGW be anything other than Gatwick shows, at best, a slightly sadistic sense of humour.
Not that Australia is a lot better. Having the unusual advantage of a single-letter country code, they could have followed the example of the US or Canada: YSYD, YMEL. But they went for a geographic system like the UK - YS for Syndey, YM for Melbourne, etc. But they could STILL have had YSYD and YMEL, instead of YSSY and YMML. But I guess that didn't fit in with the OCD handbook.
Of course to want the job of assigning airport codes you probably need a fair degree of OCD. And it's better than inventing IEC battery designator codes, that nobody even uses.
I quite like MUHA, sounds like a super-villain just getting starting on his trademark super-villain laugh. So it's kind of appropriate that its Havana.
MYAS (Sandy Point, Bahamas) has a certain schoolboy humour to it.
British airport codes really seem to have been invented by an anal compulsive with a bad hangover. I mean, in what respect is it helpful that the third letter reflects the communication centre that the airport is (well, was once) associated with? And you have to admit that making EGGW be anything other than Gatwick shows, at best, a slightly sadistic sense of humour.
Not that Australia is a lot better. Having the unusual advantage of a single-letter country code, they could have followed the example of the US or Canada: YSYD, YMEL. But they went for a geographic system like the UK - YS for Syndey, YM for Melbourne, etc. But they could STILL have had YSYD and YMEL, instead of YSSY and YMML. But I guess that didn't fit in with the OCD handbook.
Of course to want the job of assigning airport codes you probably need a fair degree of OCD. And it's better than inventing IEC battery designator codes, that nobody even uses.
Trouble is, UK (and France and Germany also) have such a lot of fields that the available 26x26 codes scarcely suffice. France introduced numbered codes like LF5922 for its smaller fields, and Germany found ETxx becoming available, reserving those for military fields. But Germany and the UK have lots of fields with no code at all.
Smaller countries like my own have so few aerodromes that more or less logical codes can and do get assigned. Even then, to understand my own EBZH code one must realise it refers to the village of Zonhoven...
Smaller countries like my own have so few aerodromes that more or less logical codes can and do get assigned. Even then, to understand my own EBZH code one must realise it refers to the village of Zonhoven...
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Many UK codes make more sense when you know their history.
Most were originally RAF wartime fields named after a nearby village. After WW2 they became civil or multi-use fields and the name changed to the nearst town or city.
Hence RAF Trevellas became Trevellas Perranporth EGTP, later shortened to Perranporth.
Most were originally RAF wartime fields named after a nearby village. After WW2 they became civil or multi-use fields and the name changed to the nearst town or city.
Hence RAF Trevellas became Trevellas Perranporth EGTP, later shortened to Perranporth.
Did UK Scottish codes start as alphabetical from north zig-zagging east west, last letter for early civil airfields?? EGPx. Then military airfields became civil. Then later airfields were EGEx. A guess - there appears to be more than one pattern.
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For Germany, a similar plan for identifiers was used as in UK and it works as follows:
ED (Europe, Deutschland)
The next letter for all the major international airports is always the letter D; the final letter is the initial of the nearest town or suburb - e.g Münster Osnabrück is close to Greven hence the final letter is G, it's full identifier is EDDG. Düsseldorf Airport is close to the suburb of Lohausen so their identifier is EDDL.
The surrounding airports then take the third letter of their identifier from the last letter of the identifier of the closest major international airport so Dortmund is close to Düsseldorf, therefore the third letter is an L; the final letter of the identifier comes from the name of the closest village / suburb (Wickede) W hence Dortmund's identifier is EDLW.
Handy if you know which small village the airfield was built next to, but unfortunately, as with everything in life, there are exceptions....
ED (Europe, Deutschland)
The next letter for all the major international airports is always the letter D; the final letter is the initial of the nearest town or suburb - e.g Münster Osnabrück is close to Greven hence the final letter is G, it's full identifier is EDDG. Düsseldorf Airport is close to the suburb of Lohausen so their identifier is EDDL.
The surrounding airports then take the third letter of their identifier from the last letter of the identifier of the closest major international airport so Dortmund is close to Düsseldorf, therefore the third letter is an L; the final letter of the identifier comes from the name of the closest village / suburb (Wickede) W hence Dortmund's identifier is EDLW.
Handy if you know which small village the airfield was built next to, but unfortunately, as with everything in life, there are exceptions....
