Slightly OT: Why do Spanish airports use the three-letter airline designator?
Jun 7, 2007, 2:05 am
#16
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Thank's. It gives at least som explanation for the 3 letters code.
Still it seems strange that all boarding passes I have seen from Spanish/Portogueese airports have been using the two-letter code while the airport signs use the three-letter airline code.
Is there a reason why Aena is that stubborn?
Still it seems strange that all boarding passes I have seen from Spanish/Portogueese airports have been using the two-letter code while the airport signs use the three-letter airline code.
Is there a reason why Aena is that stubborn?
Sadly 3-letters are seen as techy and generally reserved for communications within the system. I guess Aena has taken a decision to move the debate forward, and full marks to it for that, though it might be a tad confusing for passengers who try to match ticketed codes with those displayed in the airport.
BTW - for the same reasons, ICAO uses FOUR-letter airport codes. MAD becomes LEMD, Heathrow EGLL. It's systematic, sensible, universal and unambiguous, but unlikely to catch on in the world outside
Last edited by IAN-UK; Jun 7, 2007 at 2:12 am
Jun 7, 2007, 6:20 am
#17
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Thinking about this for a while, the European market place is seeing new airlines come and go all the time.
We already had the year 2000 computer scare (where short-sightedness in the 1980s had the potential to collapse international networks and trade) which cost companies many millions of dollars.
Just by coming out from that scenario you'd be stupid to design an airport or or airport wayfinder system that could easily become obsolete.
From what I understand Easyjet isn't even EZ, but U2 so using EZY is actually easier for most of its passengers to identify it. Few of the new start up operations so common in Europe get a two 'digit' denominator that has anything at all to do with the name of the airline.
Another example is Ryanair. 2 digit IATA: FR, 3 lettered ICAI: RYR
& Transavia = HV versus TRA
Seems to me that on this level alone AENA has understood the potential problems for the majority of its core customers - it needs to concentrate first and foremost on the needs of the hordes of holiday makers who descend en masse in LCCs and Charter flights from Germany, The Netherlands, UK etc... before adressing the expectations of savvy frequent fliers from further afield.
I'm not an AENA fan by any means, but this seems to be a rational and forward thinking decision and I applaud it.
We already had the year 2000 computer scare (where short-sightedness in the 1980s had the potential to collapse international networks and trade) which cost companies many millions of dollars.
Just by coming out from that scenario you'd be stupid to design an airport or or airport wayfinder system that could easily become obsolete.
From what I understand Easyjet isn't even EZ, but U2 so using EZY is actually easier for most of its passengers to identify it. Few of the new start up operations so common in Europe get a two 'digit' denominator that has anything at all to do with the name of the airline.
Another example is Ryanair. 2 digit IATA: FR, 3 lettered ICAI: RYR
& Transavia = HV versus TRA
Seems to me that on this level alone AENA has understood the potential problems for the majority of its core customers - it needs to concentrate first and foremost on the needs of the hordes of holiday makers who descend en masse in LCCs and Charter flights from Germany, The Netherlands, UK etc... before adressing the expectations of savvy frequent fliers from further afield.
I'm not an AENA fan by any means, but this seems to be a rational and forward thinking decision and I applaud it.
Jun 7, 2007, 7:27 am
#18
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Well the English are not very good at foreign langauages.
Rant: BAA are pretty much determined not to include any other language except for English at their ports. To address the needs of international travellers symbols have been designed for signage use.
Unfortunately, some plonker committee decided that no symbol can be of greater size (in height) than the English words next to it.
It would be perfetly possible to have a clear pictorial representation of a train, another of a bus and another of a hotel shuttle bus. But no.... it needs to be jammed into the space of a font and set alongside the word. The whole excersize is completely useless, worse, it's an insult to those who don't speak any English
Anyway, there are political reasons why Aena might not want to include Stockholm as well as Estocolmo. It might seem straightforward enough in Madrid, but go to Bilbao (where the local language is Basque/Euskera) or Barcelona (Catalan) or Valencia (Valenciano), Mallorca (mallorquin) etc... and in order to comply at least 3 signs would have to go up to show the city names; Castellano, the local language and then English. Much of the 'static' wayfinding signage already does this, personally I would find it more confusing to have to deal with 3 destination names than merely work out that Londres is London.
Rant: BAA are pretty much determined not to include any other language except for English at their ports. To address the needs of international travellers symbols have been designed for signage use.
Unfortunately, some plonker committee decided that no symbol can be of greater size (in height) than the English words next to it.
It would be perfetly possible to have a clear pictorial representation of a train, another of a bus and another of a hotel shuttle bus. But no.... it needs to be jammed into the space of a font and set alongside the word. The whole excersize is completely useless, worse, it's an insult to those who don't speak any English
Anyway, there are political reasons why Aena might not want to include Stockholm as well as Estocolmo. It might seem straightforward enough in Madrid, but go to Bilbao (where the local language is Basque/Euskera) or Barcelona (Catalan) or Valencia (Valenciano), Mallorca (mallorquin) etc... and in order to comply at least 3 signs would have to go up to show the city names; Castellano, the local language and then English. Much of the 'static' wayfinding signage already does this, personally I would find it more confusing to have to deal with 3 destination names than merely work out that Londres is London.
Jun 7, 2007, 11:20 am
#19
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From what I understand Easyjet isn't even EZ, but U2 so using EZY is actually easier for most of its passengers to identify it. Few of the new start up operations so common in Europe get a two 'digit' denominator that has anything at all to do with the name of the airline.
But what I have seen is that Ryanair uses the two letter code on their boarding passes...
Jun 7, 2007, 11:22 am
#20
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Anyway, there are political reasons why Aena might not want to include Stockholm as well as Estocolmo. It might seem straightforward enough in Madrid, but go to Bilbao (where the local language is Basque/Euskera) or Barcelona (Catalan) or Valencia (Valenciano), Mallorca (mallorquin) etc... and in order to comply at least 3 signs would have to go up to show the city names; Castellano, the local language and then English. Much of the 'static' wayfinding signage already does this, personally I would find it more confusing to have to deal with 3 destination names than merely work out that Londres is London.