Where did some airport codes come from?
Apr 22, 1999 | 12:31 pm
#47
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Thanks, skperry. Of course it's in Kentucky. Cinci is in Ohio, and the river is the state line. Slip of the finger. Sorry about that! (And I've actually been there for more than just changing planes on Delta.)
Apr 22, 1999 | 6:44 pm
#49
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My buddy, Chuck, from Spokane says that GEG is for Geiger Field. According to him, both the field and the road were named for some WWII Airforce officer named what else---Geiger.
Jun 14, 2000 | 10:10 am
#57
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia
Posts: 3,373
Celestar is not quite right on the Canadian codes.
All airports actually have a four character code, for navigation use. The first two letters are national designators.
For example, Narita is RJAA, Kansai is RJBB. Chep Lap Kok took over Kai Tak's VHHH. (Notice the VH is consistent with CX's aircraft registrations, VH-xxx?)
In the US, most commercial airports share their three letter designator--so JFK is KJFK, LAX is KLAX, etc.
In Canada, all designators begin with C. When designations were assigned, oh so many years ago, fields with control towers were given the designator Y, fields without towers were issued Z's. So Canadian fields are generally CYxx or CZxx. When the time came to assign IATA designations, we just dropped the 'C'.
Early on, some of the final two letter combinations were meant to be descriptive. Hence, airports like YVR, YOW, YSJ, YFC and YQB are easy to decipher.
However, many of today's airports have been built on fields which post date the initial assignments. Dorval (YUL) was not a commercial field until after the war, prior to which St.-Hubert (YHU) was the principal airfield for Montreal. YHZ was not built until the 50's, replacing CFB Shearwater. In a lot of cases, the most obvious designators were already assigned.
Many commercial airfields use Qx or Yx for their designators--YQM (Moncton), YQY (Charlottetown) etc. and YYZ (Pearson), YYC (Calgary) YYJ (Sidney-Victoria BC), YYT (Torbay, St. John's).
This is, again, an older convention which was used to distinguish the larger (Y) fields from the smaller (Q) fields.
All airports actually have a four character code, for navigation use. The first two letters are national designators.
For example, Narita is RJAA, Kansai is RJBB. Chep Lap Kok took over Kai Tak's VHHH. (Notice the VH is consistent with CX's aircraft registrations, VH-xxx?)
In the US, most commercial airports share their three letter designator--so JFK is KJFK, LAX is KLAX, etc.
In Canada, all designators begin with C. When designations were assigned, oh so many years ago, fields with control towers were given the designator Y, fields without towers were issued Z's. So Canadian fields are generally CYxx or CZxx. When the time came to assign IATA designations, we just dropped the 'C'.
Early on, some of the final two letter combinations were meant to be descriptive. Hence, airports like YVR, YOW, YSJ, YFC and YQB are easy to decipher.
However, many of today's airports have been built on fields which post date the initial assignments. Dorval (YUL) was not a commercial field until after the war, prior to which St.-Hubert (YHU) was the principal airfield for Montreal. YHZ was not built until the 50's, replacing CFB Shearwater. In a lot of cases, the most obvious designators were already assigned.
Many commercial airfields use Qx or Yx for their designators--YQM (Moncton), YQY (Charlottetown) etc. and YYZ (Pearson), YYC (Calgary) YYJ (Sidney-Victoria BC), YYT (Torbay, St. John's).
This is, again, an older convention which was used to distinguish the larger (Y) fields from the smaller (Q) fields.
Jun 14, 2000 | 10:11 am
#58
Join Date: Aug 1999
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See http://www.skygod.com . There's an article on there explaining some names.
Jun 14, 2000 | 10:13 am
#59
Join Date: Apr 1999
Posts: 3,709
I'm still amused by Souix City. SUX. Never been there, and the airport code isn't exactly encouraging...
I always figured MCO was Disney-related. Mickey COuntry.
Actually, an international airport is about the only thing they DON'T own these days...
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"I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own."
I always figured MCO was Disney-related. Mickey COuntry.
Actually, an international airport is about the only thing they DON'T own these days...
------------------
"I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own."
Jun 16, 2000 | 9:57 pm
#60
Join Date: Jan 2000
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Posts: 1,103
Originally posted by 100K:
I was just kidding about corporate sponsorships of airlines. It's tough to imagine quasi-government entities getting commercial that way, although the airport-using crowd is attractive from a demographic standpoint.
No one knows why Spokane is GEG? I didn't know either; I actually looked at a roadmap- A road that runs by Spokane Int'l Airport is Geiger Blvd., which was probably the name of the neighborhood or airport before it was renamed.
I was just kidding about corporate sponsorships of airlines. It's tough to imagine quasi-government entities getting commercial that way, although the airport-using crowd is attractive from a demographic standpoint.
No one knows why Spokane is GEG? I didn't know either; I actually looked at a roadmap- A road that runs by Spokane Int'l Airport is Geiger Blvd., which was probably the name of the neighborhood or airport before it was renamed.