View Full Version : Old Airport Codes
PaddyMiguel
24th Oct 2012, 10:31
Mumbai (BOM) Kolkata (CCU) Chennai (MAA) Beijing(PEK) are a few examples of airports retaining their IATA codes when the name of the city changed (or reverted to its pre-Colonial name). Does anyone know why Harare, formerly Salisbury, is now HRE? What was the airport code before the country became Zimbabwe? Why didn't they keep the old code?
The SSK
24th Oct 2012, 10:40
I think it was SAY
You can have fun with the Russian ones, the code is a clue to the old name of the city.
DaveReidUK
24th Oct 2012, 10:47
I think it was SAY
Yes, it was changed from SAY to HRE in (I think) 1981, shortly after Mugabe came into power following independence.
Presumably the aim was to remove any relics of the former colonial past, I would guess they made IATA an offer they couldn't refuse.
PaddyMiguel
24th Oct 2012, 11:17
Gosh, that was quick! Thanks. :D
SAY is now Siena which used to be an old USAF airbase during WWll.
I can understand Rubber Dinghy wanting to eradicate all traces of British colonialism; just wondered how he did it and the Indian government didn't.
India Four Two
24th Oct 2012, 15:05
It's always surprised me that my local airport, Tan Son Nhat, remained SGN after 1975.
The SSK
24th Oct 2012, 15:21
Just looked up SAY schedules in an old (1969) ABC guide.
The only European airline flying into the renegade state was ...
,,, care to guess?
Airbanda
24th Oct 2012, 15:38
Nearer to home
Heathrow was once LON and I'm pretty sure flying back for Mahon to East MIdlands in 1975 our bags were tagged CDD or CDN for Castle Donington.
DaveReidUK
25th Oct 2012, 06:47
Heathrow was once LON and I'm pretty sure flying back for Mahon to East MIdlands in 1975 our bags were tagged CDD or CDN for Castle Donington.
Yes, EMA replaced CDD (indicating Castle Donington/Derby, presumably).
LON preceding LHR must have been before my time, though I do recall in my youth when the road signs for Heathrow said simply "London Airport".
RampTramp
25th Oct 2012, 07:18
LON is still in use as the IATA city code (town office) for London. Other city codes are PAR for Paris, NYC for New York etc.
Then there is Baghdad - used to be BGW, then became SDA for Sadam Intl. & has now reverted to BGW.
Airclues
25th Oct 2012, 08:02
LON is the IATA code for 'all of the London airports'. It can be used on most websites to find flights if you don't mind which airport you fly from.
Chicago O'hare is still ORD (Orchard Field)
Dave
merlinxx
25th Oct 2012, 08:07
LON is the Metropolitan London collective IATA code, not an airport collective. LHR once had LAP applied.
DaveReidUK
25th Oct 2012, 08:48
LON is the Metropolitan London collective IATA code, not an airport collective.
Well in this case, same difference. IATA use "Metropolitan Area" codes like LON to group together facilities serving the same city - usually airports, but they can also include bus and rail stations, etc, where they have been allocated IATA codes.
But AFAIK, the only codes that "belong" to LON in the IATA world are the 6 airports: LHR, LGW, STN, LCY, LTN, SEN.
LHR once had LAP applied.
I'm not so sure that LAP was ever the IATA code for Heathrow. Certainly, in the 1960s, anyone in West London would recognise what was meant by L.A.P., but it's hard to believe that when IATA first introduced codes, they would squander 2 of the 3 available letters just to identify that it's an Airport.
Of course LAP is now the IATA code for La Paz (the Mexican one, not the Bolivian capital), but I don't know how long that's been allocated for.
Anyone have an early IATA Coding Manual in their archives ?
The SSK
25th Oct 2012, 09:09
Anyone have an early IATA Coding Manual in their archives ?
I have an ABC Guide from May 1958 which includes a city coding/decoding list but no individual airports - either in the list or anywhere else in the book.
Just looked up SAY schedules in an old (1969) ABC guide.
The only European airline flying into the renegade state was ...
,,, care to guess?
TAP Portugal with 707s.
If YYZ can refer to Toronto (there is, by the way, logic behind this, which I have explained previously) then anything can be used !
It is surprising however that cities where major political changes lead to name changes (Saigon, Leningrad, etc) still refer to the "old days" a generation or more afterwards. It's not as if changes are impossible, but they just seem to not take place very often. It does seem that IDL became JFK almost at the same point as the airport name changed. Fortunately this has not spread to the current US fashion of politicians renaming airports after themselves, eg Atlanta, where they seem to like to rename it and re-rename it after various Mayors in succession.
seacue
25th Oct 2012, 15:18
MSY (Moisant Field) is still the code for Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.
From Giggle: The airport was originally named after daredevil aviator John Moisant, who died in 1910 in an airplane crash on this land (which was devoted to farming at the time). Its IATA code MSY was derived from Moisant Stock Yard
PAXboy
25th Oct 2012, 16:11
In South Africa, whilst all the airports have been renamed from White politicians to Black politicians, their 3-ltr codes are all based on the city name:
Johannesburg - JNB
Cape Town - CPT
Durban - DBN
and so on. However, some cities are begining with name changes. The first that is being pushed is the capital, Pretoria to be Tshwane but there is no airport. The provinces have mostly changed their name with 'Traansvall' going. Originally, in 1994, all airports lost ehir white politician names and became just the city name So Jan Smuts International became Johannsburg International but then they reversed the policy and brought in names.
I don't think they will want to change Joburg or Cape Town city names as they are not associated with former white rulers. Pretoia was named for Andries Pretorius, a Boer leader. My guess is that will become Mandela City or something similar.
Sorry for the long answer but I lived in Pretoria for ten years and still have family there.
MSY (Moisant Field) is still the code for Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.
In the US codes beginning with N were reserved at the start for the US Navy. Hence New Orleans (MSY), Nashville (BNA), Norfolk (ORF), etc for civilian airports. NYC is OK for the New York metro area, because that's not an airport.
K and W starters were also suppressed in the US, hence Kansas City (MKC) to avoid confusion with already established US radio station codes, which all start with K or W.