Airline codes
Encyclopedia
This is a list of airline codes. The table lists the IATA airline designators, the ICAO airline designators and the airline call signs (telephony designator). Historical assignments are also included.
(IATA) to the world's airline
s. The standard is described in IATA's twice-annual publication, the Standard Schedules Information Manual. Airline designator codes are of the format "xx(a)", i.e. two alpha-numeric characters followed by an optional alpha character. Although the IATA standard provides for three-character airline designators, IATA has not used the optional third character in any assigned code. This is because some legacy computer systems, especially the "central reservations systems", have failed to comply with the standard, notwithstanding the fact that it has been in place for 20 years. The codes issued to date comply with IATA Resolution 762, which provides for only two characters. These codes thus comply with the airline designator standard but use only a limited subset of its possible range.
A flight designator comprises the airline designator, "xx(a)", plus the numeric flight number, "n(n)(n)(n)", plus an optional, so-called, "operational suffix" being one alpha character, "(a)". The full format of a flight designator is thus: "xx(a)n(n)(n)(n)(a)".
Designators are used to identify an airline for commercial purposes, including reservations, timetables
, tickets
, tariff
s, air waybill
s and in airline interline telecommunications. There are three types of designator: unique, numeric/alpha and controlled duplicate.
Since 1967, ICAO has also issued airline identification codes. ICAO codes are three characters in length. For many years, IATA has let it be known that they are "about" to adopt the ICAO codes as IATA airline designators. This has never occurred and IATA has made no statement about if they intend to do so.
After an airline is delisted, IATA can make the code available for reuse after six months and can issue "controlled duplicates". Controlled duplicates are issued to regional airlines whose destinations are not likely to overlap, so that the same code is shared by two airlines. The controlled duplicate is denoted here with an asterisk (*) following the code and in IATA literature as well.
IATA also issues an accounting or prefix code. This number is used on tickets as the first three characters of the ticket number.
(ICAO) to aircraft operating agencies, aeronautical authorities and services. The codes are unique by airline which is not true for the IATA airline designator codes. ICAO codes started to come into use in 1967.
Each aircraft operating agency, aeronautical authority and services related to international aviation is allocated both a three-letter designator and a telephony designator. The designators are listed in ICAO Document 8585: Designators for Aircraft Operating Agencies, Aeronautical Authorities and Services.
An example is:
Certain combinations of letters are not allocated to avoid confusion with other systems (for example SOS
). Other designators particularly those starting with Y and Z are reserved for government organizations.
Designator YYY is used for operators that have a code allocated.
that is normally spoken during airband
radio transmissions. As by ICAO Annex 10 chapter 5.2.1.7.2.1 a call sign shall be one of the following types:
Type A – the characters corresponding to the registration marking of the aircraft
Type B – the telephony designator of the aircraft operating agency, followed by the last four characters of the registration marking of the aircraft
Type C – the telephony designator of the aircraft operating agency, followed by the flight identification
The one most widely used within commercial aviation is type C. The flight identification is very often the same as the flight number, though this is not always the case. In case of call sign confusion a different flight identification can be chosen, but the flight number will remain the same. Call sign confusion happens when two or more flights with similar flight numbers fly close to each other, e.g., KLM645 and KLM649 or BAW466 and BAW646.
The flight number is published in an airline's public timetable and appears on the arrivals and departure screens in the airport terminals. In cases of emergency, the airline name and flight number, rather than the call sign, are normally mentioned by the main news media.
Some call signs are less obviously associated with a particular airline than others. This might be for historic reasons, or possibly to avoid confusion with a call sign used by an established airline.
Companies' names will change, normally due to bankruptcies or mergers. Country names can also change over time and new call signs may be agreed in substitution for traditional ones. The country shown alongside an airline's call sign is that wherein most of its aircraft are believed to be registered, which may not always be the same as the country in which the firm is officially incorporated or registered. There are many other airlines in business whose radio
call signs are more obviously derived from the trading name.
The callsign should ideally resemble the operators name or function and not be confused with callsigns used by other operators. The callsign should be easily and phonetically pronounceable in at least English, the international language of aviation.
| Airline codes for airlines beginning with: |
|---|
All - 0–9 Airline codes-0 |-||NOH|32 Squadron, Royal Air Force|NORTHOLT|United Kingdom||-||EVY|34 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force||Australia||-||GNL|135 Airways|GENERAL|United States||-|1T|RNX|1Time Airline|NEXTIME|South Africa||-||WYT... - A Airline codes-A |-|1B||Abacus International||Singapore|Computer reservation system|-|W9|AAB|Abelag Aviation|ABG|Belgium||-|6U|ACX|Air Cargo Germany|LOADMASTER|Germany||-||AAD|Aero Aviation Centre Ltd.|SUNRISE|Canada|Ceased operations 1995|-||SII... - B Airline codes-B |-||PVO|Bearing Supplies Limited|PROVOST|United Kingdom||-||BAA|Balkan Agro Aviation|BALKAN AGRO|Bulgaria||-||BAB|Bahrain Air BSC |AWAL|Bahrain||-||BAC|BAC Leasing Limited| |United Kingdom||-||BAE|BAE Systems|FELIX... - C Airline codes-C |-||SRJ|C Air Jet Airlines|SYRJET|Syrian Arab Republic||-||ORO|C N Air|CAPRI|Spain||-||TIP|C and M Aviation|TRANSPAC|United States||-||RWG|C&M Airways|RED WING|United States||-||RMU|C.S.P., Societe|AIR-MAUR|Mauritania||-||CBI... - D Airline codes-D |-||DDA|D & D Aviation|DUSTY|United States||-||DNK|D&K Aviation|DIRECT JET|United States||-|V5|VPA|DanubeWings|VIP TAXI|Slovakia||-||DHE|DAP Helicopteros|HELIDAP|Chile||-||VLF|DFS UK Limited|VOLANTE|United Kingdom||-|WD|DSR... - E Airline codes-E |-|E1||Everbread||United Kingdom|-||EHD|E H Darby Aviation|PLATINUM AIR|United States||-|1C||Electronic Data Systems||Switzerland|-|1Y||Electronic Data Systems||United States||-||EXW|Executive Airlines Services|ECHOLINE|Nigeria||-|... - F Airline codes-F |-||EYE|F.S. Air Service|SOCKEYE|United States||-||IFA|FAI Air Service|RED ANGLE|Germany||-||FLC|FINFO Flight Inspection Aircraft|FLIGHT CHECK|United States||-||FKI|FLM Aviation Mohrdieck|KIEL AIR|Germany||-||DCM|FLTPLAN|DOT COM... - G Airline codes-G |-||GML|G & L Aviation|GEEANDEL|South Africa||-||EXH|G5 Executive|BATMAN|Switzerland||-||MTA|GAK/Mitchell Aero|GAK AVIATION|United States||-||GGS|GATSA|GATSA|Mexico||-||GBX|GB Airlink|ISLAND TIGER|United States||-|GT|GBL... - H Airline codes-H |-||HLA|HC Airlines|HEAVYLIFT|United Kingdom||-||HWD|HPM Investments|FLITEWISE|United Kingdom||-||KTR|HT Helikoptertransport|COPTER TRANS|Sweden||-||AHT|HTA Helicopteros|HELIAPRA|Portugal||-|||Hacienda Airlines||United States... - I Airline codes-I |-||ITC|International Air Carrier Association||Belgium||-|II|CSQ|IBC Airways|CHASQUI|United States||-|0C|IBL|IBL Aviation|CATOVAIR|Mauritius||-||BBL|IBM Euroflight Operations|BLUE|Switzerland||-||YYY|ICAO||... - J Airline codes-J |-||JCB|J C Bamford |JAYSEEBEE|United Kingdom||-||RFX|J P Hunt Air Carriers|REFLEX|United States|J P Hunt Air Carriers|-|XM||J-Air|J AIR|Japan||-|JC|JEX|JAL Express|JANEX|Japan||-|JO|JAZ|JALways|JALWAYS|Japan||-||JDA... - K Airline codes-K |-||KDC|K D Air Corporation|KAY DEE|Canada||-||KSA|K S Avia|SKY CAMEL|Latvia||-||KMI|K-Mile Air|KAY-MILE AIR|Thailand||-|KD|KNI|KD Avia|KALININGRAD AIR|Russia||-|WA|KLC|KLM Cityhopper|CITY|Netherlands||-||KLH|KLM Helicopter... - L Airline codes-L |-||LAH|L A Helicopter|STAR SHIP|United States||-||LJY|L J Aviation|ELJAY|United States||-||LRB|L R Airlines|LADY RACINE|Czech Republic||-||PHO|L&L Flygbildteknik|PHOTOFLIGHT|Sweden||-||LEX|L'Express Airlines|LEX|United States||-|... - M Airline codes-M |-||JNH|M & N Aviation|JONAH|United States||-||MCF|MAC Fotografica|MAC FOTO|Spain||-||MRG|MANAG'AIR|MANAG'AIR|France||-|AQ|MPJ|MAP-Management and Planung|MAPJET|Austria||-||TFG|MAS Airways|TRAFALGAR|United Kingdom||-|M7|MAA... - N Airline codes-N |-||NLG|NEL Cargo|NELCARGO|Ivory Coast||-||NHG|NHT Linhas Aéreas|HELGA|Brazil||-||WAR|NZ Warbirds Association|WARBIRDS|New Zealand||-||ANL|Nacoia Lda|AIR NACOIA|Angola||-||NHZ|Nada Air Service|NADA AIR|Chad||-||BFN... - O Airline codes-O |-||OCN|O Air|O-BIRD|France||-|UQ|OCM|O'Connor Airlines|OCONNOR|Australia|Defunct - Bankrupt|-|CR|ABC|OAG||United Kingdom||-||JPA|OSACOM|J-PAT|United States|United States Army|-|O8|OHK|Oasis Hong Kong Airlines|OASIS|Hong Kong... - P Airline codes-P |-||KTL|P & P Floss Pick Manufacturers|KNOTTSBERRY|South Africa||-||PCR|PAC Air|PACAIR|United States|Pearson Aviation Corporation|-|PV|PNR|PAN Air|SKYJET|Spain||-|9Q|PBA|PB Air|PEEBEE AIR|Thailand||-||PDQ|PDQ Air Charter|DISPATCH... - Q Airline codes-Q |-||QNT|Qanot Sharq|QANAT SHARQ|Uzbekistan||-|QF|QFA|Qantas|QANTAS|Australia||-||QAC|Qatar Air Cargo|QATAR CARGO|Qatar||-|QR|QTR|Qatar Airways|QATARI|Qatar||-||QAF|Qatar Amiri Flight|AMIRI|Qatar||-||IRQ|Qeshm Air|QESHM AIR|Iran... - R Airline codes-R |-||RJT|RA Jet Aeroservicios|RA JET|Mexico||-|R6||RACSA||Guatemala||-||BKH|RAF Barkston Heath||United Kingdom||-||CFN|Church Fenton Flying Training Unit|CHURCH FENTON|United Kingdom||-||COH|Coltishall Flying Training Unit|COLT... - S Airline codes-S |-||SHA|Shree Airlines|SHREEAIR|Nepal||-|7E|AWU|Sylt Air GmbH|SYLT-AIR|Germany||-||BDS|South Asian Airlines|SOUTH ASIAN|Bangladesh||-||BEC|State Air Company Berkut||Kazakhstan||-|S4|RZO|SATA International|AIR AZORES|Portugal||-|SA... - T Airline codes-T |-||SWL|Trans Jet Airways|TRANSJET|Sweden||-||TAC|Turbot Air Cargo|TURBOT|Senegal||-||TAD|Transporte Aéreo Dominicano|TRANS DOMINICAN|Dominican Republic||-|EQ|TAE|TAME|TAME|Ecuador|Transporte Aéreos Militares Ecuatorianos|-||BAP... - U Airline codes-U |-||DOD|USAF Air Mobility Operations Control Center||United States||-||DOI|U.S. Department of the Interior|INTERIOR|United States|Office of Aircraft Services|-||EXM|United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority|EXAM|United Kingdom|CAA Flight Examiners... - V Airline codes-V |-|V9|HCW|Star1 Airlines|STAR1|Lithuania|defunct|-||VIL|V I Airlink|TURTLE DOVE|Virgin Islands||-|VA|VAU|V Australia Airlines|VEE-OZ|Australia|PREVIOUSLY USED: KANGA, AURORA, VELOCITY|-||VBA|V Bird Airlines Netherlands|VEEBEE|Netherlands|... - W Airline codes-W |-|W1|WDL|WDL Aviation|WDL|Germany||-||WRR|WRA Inc|WRAP AIR|United States||-||XWS|WSI Corporation||United States||-||CGG|Walmart Aviation|CHARGE|United States||-||WAS|Walsten Air Services|WALSTEN|Canada||-||GOT|WaltAir|GOTHIC... - X Airline codes-X |-|SE|SEU|XL Airways France|STARWAY|France||-||XPS|XP Internation|XP PARCEL|Netherlands||-||XAB|Xabre Aerolíneas|AERO XABRE|Mexico||-||XJC|Xclusive Jet Charter Limited|EXCLUSIVE JET|United Kingdom||-||XER|Xerox Corporation|XEROX... - Y Airline codes-Y |-||AKY|Yak-Service|YAK-SERVICE|Russia||-||YAK|Yakolev|YAK AVIA|Russia|Yak Design Bureau|-|YL|LLM|Yamal Airlines|YAMAL|Russia||-||CYG|Yana Airlines|VICAIR|Cambodia||-|Y8|YZR|Yangtze River Express|YANGTZE RIVER|China||-||ELW... - Z Airline codes-Z |-||RZV|Z-Avia|ZEDAVIA|Armenia||-||IZG|Zagros Airlines|ZAGROS|Iran||-||ZAI|Zaire Aero Service|ZASAIR|Democratic Republic of Congo||-||ZAR|Zairean Airlines|ZAIREAN|Democratic Republic of Congo||-|Q3|MBN|Zambian Airways|ZAMBIANA|Zambia... |
IATA airline designator
IATA airline designators, sometimes called IATA reservation codes, are two-character codes assigned by the International Air Transport AssociationInternational Air Transport Association
The International Air Transport Association is an international industry trade group of airlines headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where the International Civil Aviation Organization is also headquartered. The executive offices are at the Geneva Airport in SwitzerlandIATA's mission is to...
(IATA) to the world's airline
Airline
An airline provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit...
s. The standard is described in IATA's twice-annual publication, the Standard Schedules Information Manual. Airline designator codes are of the format "xx(a)", i.e. two alpha-numeric characters followed by an optional alpha character. Although the IATA standard provides for three-character airline designators, IATA has not used the optional third character in any assigned code. This is because some legacy computer systems, especially the "central reservations systems", have failed to comply with the standard, notwithstanding the fact that it has been in place for 20 years. The codes issued to date comply with IATA Resolution 762, which provides for only two characters. These codes thus comply with the airline designator standard but use only a limited subset of its possible range.
A flight designator comprises the airline designator, "xx(a)", plus the numeric flight number, "n(n)(n)(n)", plus an optional, so-called, "operational suffix" being one alpha character, "(a)". The full format of a flight designator is thus: "xx(a)n(n)(n)(n)(a)".
Designators are used to identify an airline for commercial purposes, including reservations, timetables
Airline timetable
Airline timetables are booklets that many airlines worldwide use to inform passengers of several different things, such as schedules, fleet, security, in-flight entertainment, food menu, restriction and phone contact information....
, tickets
Airline ticket
An airline ticket is a document, issued by an airline or a travel agency, to confirm that an individual has purchased a seat on a flight on an aircraft. This document is then used to obtain a boarding pass, at the airport...
, tariff
Tariff
A tariff may be either tax on imports or exports , or a list or schedule of prices for such things as rail service, bus routes, and electrical usage ....
s, air waybill
Air waybill
Air Waybill or air consignment note refers to a receipt issued by an international airline for goods and an evidence of the contract of carriage, but it is not a document of title to the goods. Hence, the AWB is non-negotiable.-Description:...
s and in airline interline telecommunications. There are three types of designator: unique, numeric/alpha and controlled duplicate.
Since 1967, ICAO has also issued airline identification codes. ICAO codes are three characters in length. For many years, IATA has let it be known that they are "about" to adopt the ICAO codes as IATA airline designators. This has never occurred and IATA has made no statement about if they intend to do so.
After an airline is delisted, IATA can make the code available for reuse after six months and can issue "controlled duplicates". Controlled duplicates are issued to regional airlines whose destinations are not likely to overlap, so that the same code is shared by two airlines. The controlled duplicate is denoted here with an asterisk (*) following the code and in IATA literature as well.
IATA also issues an accounting or prefix code. This number is used on tickets as the first three characters of the ticket number.
ICAO airline designator
The ICAO airline designator is a code assigned by the International Civil Aviation OrganizationInternational Civil Aviation Organization
The International Civil Aviation Organization , pronounced , , is a specialized agency of the United Nations. It codifies the principles and techniques of international air navigation and fosters the planning and development of international air transport to ensure safe and orderly growth...
(ICAO) to aircraft operating agencies, aeronautical authorities and services. The codes are unique by airline which is not true for the IATA airline designator codes. ICAO codes started to come into use in 1967.
Each aircraft operating agency, aeronautical authority and services related to international aviation is allocated both a three-letter designator and a telephony designator. The designators are listed in ICAO Document 8585: Designators for Aircraft Operating Agencies, Aeronautical Authorities and Services.
An example is:
- Three-letter designator – AAL
- Telephony designator – AMERICAN
- Operator – American AirlinesAmerican AirlinesAmerican Airlines, Inc. is the world's fourth-largest airline in passenger miles transported and operating revenues. American Airlines is a subsidiary of the AMR Corporation and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas adjacent to its largest hub at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport...
Certain combinations of letters are not allocated to avoid confusion with other systems (for example SOS
SOS
SOS is the commonly used description for the international Morse code distress signal...
). Other designators particularly those starting with Y and Z are reserved for government organizations.
Designator YYY is used for operators that have a code allocated.
Call signs (Flight identification or flight ID)
Most airlines employ a call signCall sign
In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign is a unique designation for a transmitting station. In North America they are used as names for broadcasting stations...
that is normally spoken during airband
Airband
Airband or Aircraft band is the name for a group of frequencies in the VHF radio spectrum allocated to radio communication in civil aviation, sometimes also referred to as VHF, or phonetically as "Victor"...
radio transmissions. As by ICAO Annex 10 chapter 5.2.1.7.2.1 a call sign shall be one of the following types:
Type A – the characters corresponding to the registration marking of the aircraft
Type B – the telephony designator of the aircraft operating agency, followed by the last four characters of the registration marking of the aircraft
Type C – the telephony designator of the aircraft operating agency, followed by the flight identification
The one most widely used within commercial aviation is type C. The flight identification is very often the same as the flight number, though this is not always the case. In case of call sign confusion a different flight identification can be chosen, but the flight number will remain the same. Call sign confusion happens when two or more flights with similar flight numbers fly close to each other, e.g., KLM645 and KLM649 or BAW466 and BAW646.
The flight number is published in an airline's public timetable and appears on the arrivals and departure screens in the airport terminals. In cases of emergency, the airline name and flight number, rather than the call sign, are normally mentioned by the main news media.
Some call signs are less obviously associated with a particular airline than others. This might be for historic reasons, or possibly to avoid confusion with a call sign used by an established airline.
Companies' names will change, normally due to bankruptcies or mergers. Country names can also change over time and new call signs may be agreed in substitution for traditional ones. The country shown alongside an airline's call sign is that wherein most of its aircraft are believed to be registered, which may not always be the same as the country in which the firm is officially incorporated or registered. There are many other airlines in business whose radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
call signs are more obviously derived from the trading name.
The callsign should ideally resemble the operators name or function and not be confused with callsigns used by other operators. The callsign should be easily and phonetically pronounceable in at least English, the international language of aviation.
See also
- International Air Transport Association airport code
- International Civil Aviation Organization airport codeInternational Civil Aviation Organization airport codeThe ICAO airport code or location indicator is a four-character alphanumeric code designating each airport around the world. These codes are defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization, and published in ICAO Document 7910: Location Indicators.The ICAO codes are used by air traffic...
External links
- International Civil Aviation Organization Official site
- ICAO On-line Publications Purchasing Official site
- Standard Schedules Information Manual
- Airline Designator / Code Database Search (from Aviation Codes Central Web Site – Regular Updates)