2023: IATA Airport Codes

This year’s card uses the three-letter airport identifiers allocated by IATA, the International Air Transport Association. IATA’s airport codes are separate from its city codes. London, for example, has the city code LON but also the separate airport codes LHR (Heathrow), LGW (Gatwick), LCY (City), STN (Stansted), LTN (Luton), and SEN (Southend). The airport codes are used here.

Each code on the card represents the city, town, or district principally served by the airport and thus its initial letter. So STN (London Stansted Airport) would represent London and thus the letter “L” (not needed here, in fact). To make the code interesting, I had to find airport codes – such as STN – that did not start with the name of the locality they served.

Many airport codes, e.g. BHX for Birmingham Airport, are derived simply from the name of the locality – no use to me here. But others are derived from the airport name (which might well be different), an earlier name for the airport, or even an earlier name for the locality. In some cases, they have no relation to any other identifier: Canada’s airport codes, for example, are based on earlier two-letter codes used to identify weather reporting stations, having no relation to place names, prefixed by a “Y” (or sometimes one of a small range of other letters).

There was no useful way to represent digits in this code, though there are localities called 1 Decembrie (Romania) and 6th of October (Egypt). It would have been a stretch to try to use such as Three Mile Island (USA, twice), Six Mile Bottom (UK), Sevenoaks (UK), or Nine Elms (UK) – not that they have airports – and more so Zweibrücken (Germany), Tripoli (Lebanon or Libya), or similar. I could have constructed the required year in Roman numerals – as MMXXIV – but went with “the new year” instead.

Was it a cheat to use the initial letter of the name of the Turkish city of İzmir, which needs its dot just as much as a lower-case version would, to stand for a plain “I”? I hope not.

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This translates as:

SGN	Ho Chi Minh City	Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, is the most populous city in Vietnam. It is served by Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport, the busiest airport in Vietnam.
CAK	Akron	Akron, Ohio, is served by Akron–Canton Airport, which it shares with the neighbouring city of Canton.
CDG	Paris	Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport is the main international airport serving Paris.
FNJ	Pyongyang	Pyongyang, the capital city of North Korea, is served by Pyongyang Sunan International Airport
RGN	Yangon	Yangon (formerly romanised as Rangoon), is the largest city and earlier capital of Myanmar (Burma). It is served by Yangon International Airport.

ORD	Chicago	Chicago is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and its main international airport is Chicago O’Hare International Airport. It was previously known as Orchard Field Airport, from which its code is presumably derived.
BDA	Hamilton	The city of Hamilton is the capital of the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda. L.F. Wade International Airport was renamed in honour of L. Frederick Wade, a former leader of the governing political party.
FCO	Rome	Rome’s international airport is Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport, located in Fiumicino.
SAW	Istanbul	The smaller of two international airports serving Istanbul, the largest city in Turkey, is Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport, on the Asian side of the city. It is named after Sabiha Gökçen, adoptive daughter of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.
ARN	Stockholm	The busiest airport in Sweden, serving its capital city, is Stockholm Arlanda Airport.
NRT	Tokyo	Narita International Airport is the major gateway for international travellers to Japan.
SVO	Moscow	Шереметьево Александра С. Пушкина Международный аэропорт (Sheremetyevo Alexander S. Pushkin International Airport), serving Moscow and originally named after a nearby village, is the busiest airport in Russia.
HBE	Alexandria	Borg El Arab Airport is the principal airport of the Egyptian city of Alexandria.
ICN	Seoul	Incheon International Airport is the largest airport in South Korea and one of two serving the capital, Seoul. It is named after a nearby city.

And thus:

HAPPY CHRISTMAS

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This translates as:

YXX	Abbotsford	Abbotsford, a Canadian city in British Columbia, next to the United States border, is served by Abbotsford International Airport. This is an example of Canadian IATA airport codes starting “Y”.
JFK	New York City	The main international airport serving New York City was opened as New York International Airport, though commonly known as Idlewild Airport (after a golf course that it replaced) and given the IATA code IDL. It was renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport with its new IATA code in 1963, soon after the assassination of the president.
JIB	Djibouti	Djibouti (perhaps somewhat confusingly) is the capital city of Djibouti. It is served by Djibouti-Ambouli International Airport. An earlier spelling of the name of the city and country was “Jibouti”.

EZE	Buenos Aires	The main international airport serving Argentina’s capital city, Buenos Aires, is Aeropuerto Internacional Ministro Pistarini, named after Juan Perón’s minister of public works, Juan Pistarini. It is commonly known as Ezeiza Airport, after the suburb in which it is located.
DBB	El Alamein	مطار العلمين الدولي‎ (El Alamein International Airport) serving the Egyptian town of that name, is located in the town of El Dabaa.
LED	Saint Petersburg	Saint Petersburg’s Аэропорт Пулково (Pulkovo Airport) gained its IATA code during the period when the city was named Leningrad.
FOE	Topeka	Topeka, the capital city of he U.S. state of Kansas, houses Topeka Regional Airport, formerly known as Forbes Field.

IAD	Washington	Washington is the national capital of the United States, within the District of Columbia, its federal district. The city’s metropolitan area is served by Washington Dulles International Airport, named after John Foster Dulles, the U.S. Secretary of State (foreign minister) in the 1950s.
ADB	İzmir	İzmir, the third most populous city in Turkey, is served by İzmir Adnan Menderes Havalimanı (İzmir Adnan Menderes Airport), named after former Turkish prime minister Adnan Menderes.
GRU	São Paulo	The international airport of São Paulo, the most populous city in Brazil, is Aeroporto Internacional de São Paulo/Guarulhos–Governador André Franco Montoro (São Paulo/Guarulhos–Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport). André Franco Montoro was a former governor of São Paulo state. It is commonly known Guarulhos Airport, after the locality in which it is sited.
IAH	Houston	George Bush Intercontinental Airport serves Houston, the most populous city in Texas. It was renamed after President George Bush senior, a resident, in 1997. Its IATA code derives from a slight reordering of its earlier name of Houston Intercontinental Airport.
YEG	Edmonton	YEG Edmonton International Airport serves Edmonton, the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta.
GEG	Spokane	Spokane International Airport serves the city of Spokane in the U.S. state of Washington. It was earlier known as Geiger Field, named after Major Harold Geiger, an aviation pioneer who died in an air accident.

LYP	Faisalabad	Faisalabad International Airport serves the city of Faisalabad, the third largest city of Pakistan. The city was known as Lyallpur, after Sir James Broadwood Lyall, a former lieutenant governor of the Punjab, until the 1970s, when it was renamed in honour of the late King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. The airport was formerly Lyallpur Airfield and kept its IATA code after the change.
KEO	Odienné	Odienné Airport serves Odienné, a town in Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast).
YQR	Regina	Regina International Airport serves Regina, the capital city of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan and the second-largest in the province.

YYZ	Toronto	Toronto is the most populous city in Canada and the capital city of its province of Ontario. Lester B. Pearson International Airport, Canada’s busiest, is named in honour of a prime minister of Canada in the 1960s.
ITO	Hilo	Hilo International Airport serves Hilo, the largest settlement on the Island of Hawaiʻi, one of the islands of the U.S. state of Hawaii.
FCM	Eden Prairie	Eden Prairie, a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, in the outer suburbs of Minneapolis–Saint Paul, is served by Flying Cloud Airport.

GOJ	Nizhny Novgorod	Аэропорт Стригино (Strigino Airport) serves the Russian city of Нижний Новгород (Nizhny Novgorod). Its IATA code presumably dates from the period that the city was known as Горький (Gorky).
ZEM	Eastmain	Eastmain River Airport serves Eastmain, a small Cree village in the Canadian province of Quebec. The “Z” in its IATA code has the same origin as the more common Canadian “Y” and would have been required to avoid duplication.
PBI	West Palm Beach	Palm Beach International Airport is located near the city of West Palm Beach, in the U.S. state of Florida.

EVN	Yerevan	Զվարթնոց միջազգային օդանավակայան (Zvartnots International Airport) serves Երևան (Yerevan), the capital and largest city of Armenia. Its IATA code may have come from the alternative transliteration of the city’s name as Erevan.
LEA	Exmouth	Learmonth Airport is located near and serves the town of Exmouth, in the Australian state of Western Australia.
LEI	Almería	Aeropuerto de Almería (Almería Airport) serves Almería, the capital city of the Spanish province of Andalusia.
VKG	Rạch Giá	瀝架 (Rạch Giá) is the capital of Kiên Giang province in Vietnam. Rạch Giá Airport’s IATA code is presumably derived from the names of the country and province.

HGS	Freetown	Hastings Airport is a local airport serving Freetown, the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone.
URO	Rouen	Aéroport de Rouen - Vallée de Seine (Rouen Airport) serves Rouen, a city in the Normandy region of northern France.
ITM	Osaka	大阪国際空港 (Osaka International Airport) – despite its name – is a domestic airport serving Osaka, one of the three major cities of Japan. It was originally named Itami Airport, after the city of Itami, where most of its land is located. Its IATA code must have been chosen before the change of name.
YUL	Montreal	Montréal–Trudeau International Airport serves Montreal, the most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. It is named after Pierre Elliott Trudeau, a prime minister of Canada variously during the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s and father of the current prime minister.

PEK	Beijing	Beijing Capital International Airport is one of two international airports serving Beijing, the Chinese capital. Its IATA code will have been derived from the earlier romanisation of the city’s name as Peking.
IOM	Ronaldsway	Ronaldsway on the Isle of Man is the location of Isle of Man Airport, also known as Ronaldsway Airport.
YEV	Inuvik	Inuvik (Mike Zubko) Airport serves Inuvik, the only town in the Inuvik Region of Canada’s Northwest Territories. Mike Zubko was a famous local aviator.
ESB	Ankara	Ankara Esenboğa Havalimanı (Ankara Esenboğa Airport) is the international airport serving Ankara, the Turkish capital city.
BNA	Nashville	Nashville International Airport serves Nashville, the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee. Its IATA code was derived from its former name of Berry Field.

DMK	Bangkok	ท่าอากาศยานดอนเมือง (Don Mueang International Airport) is the older of two airports serving Bangkok, the capital city of Thailand. It is named after the district of Bangkok where it is located.
DNL	Augusta	Daniel Field airport is one of two serving Augusta, a city in the U.S. state of Georgia. It was named after Raleigh Daniel, a mayor who had been a major proponent of the airport’s development.
GIG	Rio de Janeiro	Rio de Janeiro/Galeão–Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport is the major airport serving the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro. It is named after its location of Galeão as well as the Brazilian musician Antonio Carlos Jobim.
CCU	Kolkata	Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport serves Kolkata, the capital city of the Indian state of West Bengal. Its IATA code is a remnant of the city’s former name of Calcutta.
IPC	Easter Island	Mataveri International Airport (or Isla de Pascua Airport) serves Isla de Pascua (Easter Island), or Rapa Nui, an island and territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean.
KEF	Reykjavík	Keflavíkurflugvöllur (Keflavík International Airport), named after its location in the town of Keflavík, serves Reykjavík, the Icelandic capital city.

And thus:

AND BEST WISHES FOR THE NEW YEAR FROM BRIAN BARKER

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Version 1: Revised 6 December 2023
Brian Barker