why do all canadian airport codes start with y
 

i can usually guess an airport code in most countries

SIN singapore

SYD sydney

FRA frankfurt etc

then i come Canada

YYZ Toronto

YEG Edmonton

YVR Vancouver

who is the moron that designed this system

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/canada/522210-why-y.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-c...des-why-y.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...ort-codes.html

Y not?

Cheers,

We've had this discussion before somewhere on FT...:

There are two types of airport codes: Four-letter ICAO codes used for flight operations/ATC, and three-letter IATA codes used for passenger handling.

ICAO codes consist of a two-letter country prefix and a two-letter airport code. Some countries (those with lots of airports) have more than one prefix. The USA has 26 - KA to KZ. Canada has four, CU, CW, CY and CZ. The vast majority of Canadian airports use IATA codes starting in CY.

(There are some that start in CZ. CU and CW are used for special purposes such as airport met offices.)

For most of the world ICAO codes and IATA codes bear no resemblance to each other. LHR is EGLL, AMS is EHAM, CDG is LFPG.

In the USA and Canada, however, IATA codes are based on ICAO codes.

For US airports the IATA code is the ICAO code without the initial K. JFK is KJFK, LAX is KLAX.

For Canadian airports the IATA code is the ICAO code without the initial C. Hence CYOW = YOW, CYYZ = YYZ.

In theory there should be some Canadian IATA codes starting in Z but looking at the CZ.. list in my ICAO directory I suspect these are mostly places without scheduled services (and hence without IATA codes) such as CZMN = 108 Mile Airport in BC.

In case you were wondering why YEG is Edmonton and not Winnipeg (which is YWG), I understand that the original Edmonton airfield, which was assigned YED, was the decommissioned Namao AFB (now an army base). The downtown municipal airport, which I think was next, is YXD. I don't know why the newer Edmonton Int'l, which was planned in the late 50's and opened in the early 60's, was assigned YEG. I've more than once had to correct airline employees that YEG is not Winnipeg.

I've flown in and out of ZBF (Bathurst, NB) on Air Canada Jazz's scheduled service from YUL for many years. Last I checked it was twice daily Dash8-100 service except of Sundays when they only have one flight.

mpc1

These designators should work:

Toronto Ontario = YTO
Edmonton Alberta =YEA
Montreal Quebec = YMQ

http://www.airlinequality.com/Interact/Q1_J00135.htm

There is, at least one, ZBF (Bathurst, New-Brunswick) which has two daily flights from YUL.

Cheers

Duly noted.

YTO is the metrocode for the three toronto airports (YKZ, YTZ, and YYZ) I have no idea why they were set as KZ, TZ, and YZ though.

not everything is Y or CY and not everything Y is even Canada...

CZBB (iata YDT) is the 5th busiest airport in Canada (by movements)
CYHC (iata CXH) is one end of the busiest air route in Canada (to YWH)
YKM is in the USA

Also not all US icao codes start with K. Hawaii and Alaska codes start with P (pacific).

As is YAK and YNG.

Ok, so this is really late, but I just stumbled across this thread which exactly answers what I'm looking for - but regardless of the source, it just seem clumsy. The US has 26 2-letter prefixes, allowing IATA codes that can usually represent a fair approximation of the city/airport name. Seems like most other developed, and some developing countries have flexibility - witness the UK, Germany, India, Australia.

Brazil seems to be in the same boat as Canada with GRU, GIG etc. Just seems strange, that's all.

Those come from the airport names:

GRU = Guarulhos (Sao Paulo)
GIG = Galeao (Rio) (That one is not quite so related.)

But:

BSB = Brasilia
REC = Recife
SSA = Salvador
MAO = Manaus
BEL = Belem

They're not all "G" airports. :)

I haven't actually researched this, but my guess is that some time in the dim and distant past Canada decided, and told IATA, that they wanted to base their IATA code on their ICAO code.

And contrary to what some people here seem to think there is a connection between name and code for many (though not all) Canadian airports.... but it's the last two letters rather than the last three (as the first and second letter are fixed) Ottawa is (Y)OW, Vancouver is (Y)VR.