Why is it "Y--"?
 

Something has been bugging me for a while, so I hope y'all have the answer...

I've come to the conclusion that Canada has made the decision to have the 1st letter of all its airports start with "Y"... but why?

Another thing... given the above, I understand YVR for VancouveR and YOW for OttaWa... but why YYZ for Toronto, YEG for Edmonton, and YUL for Montreal?

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...adian+airports
This link is to a thread that will bring you to the most informative thread, which is this one:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=439919

There are always many discussions as to the origins ... here is another on a non-FT site:

http://www.avcanada.ca/forums2/viewt...=airport+codes


A more generic discussion can be found at:

http://www.skygod.com/asstd/abc.html

D'oh! Many thanks... I tried about 3 searches, but I was at a loss as to what terms to use.

Wow... now I know WAY too much about Canadian airport codes :D

But it seems no one knows about "YYZ" :confused:

For the search I used "Canadian airports".

I was way over thinking it... I even tried to use "Why YYZ YOW YEG" etc, figuring if the question was asked, all the airports would be listed :o

Well, thanks for not flaming me.... I've come to expect it in the AA forum ;)

You can thank PB for me not flaming you :D Normally I do. :p

Umm.. sorry but you're a few posts too late :)

Oh, sory 'bout that. :-)

No problem :D I give you kudos for trying (impressive for noob!) ^

Did you refill your kudo supply? :D

Shouldn't it be "Oh, sorry 'boot that" ;)

:)


You all are too funny. Or should it be "ya'll"? ;) I shouldn't say anything, I do say "ya'll" quite a bit.

Canada Flyer

Not all Canadian airports... ZBB (CZBB) is one of the 10 busiest airports (in terms of movements) in Canada. Add CXH as another Vancouver airport with regularly scheduled flights without a Y. (and both of those aerodromes are large enough to have a control tower).

Note that some US airports start with a Y. YKM = YaKiMa, Washington

Some of the codes sometimes make more sense if you know the local area well. Example YCD = Nanaimo, but if you knew it was in CassiDy, south of town it makes more sense.

A quick google search should uncover more history, but at least to translate an IATA code (travel agent code) to a aviation code in north america you just add a C for Canada or K for the USA.

http://www.skygod.com/asstd/abc.html has a lot more details on the subject