What is the difference between IATA and ICAO airport codes?

IATA, the airlines' trade association, gives the three-letter codes that passengers see. ICAO, the UN aviation agency, sets the four-letter codes used in flight plans; the first letter is the region (K for the contiguous United States, C for Canada, E for northern Europe, L for southern Europe, Y for Australia) and each country hands out its own codes within it.

How many airport codes are there?

This list has the 4,008 airports in 233 countries that have an IATA code and scheduled passenger flights; 3,938 of them also have an ICAO code. IATA also gives codes to cities, railway stations and airfields without airline service, which are not listed here.

One code for all of a city's airports, used in flight searches and on tickets: LON for London (LHR, LGW, STN, LTN, LCY, SEN), NYC for New York (JFK, EWR, LGA), PAR for Paris (CDG, ORY, BVA) and TYO for Tokyo (HND, NRT). A search for the city code shows flights from every airport of that city.

Why do some airport codes not match the city name?

Many codes come from an older name: ORD for Chicago O'Hare is from Orchard Field, its name before 1949. Most Canadian codes start with Y (YYZ Toronto Pearson, YVR Vancouver). Codes rarely change when an airport is renamed, because tickets and systems everywhere use them.

AirportMiles

Airport codes: every IATA code A–Z

4,008 airports with scheduled flights, each with its ICAO code, city and country.

An airport code is the three-letter IATA code on your ticket and bag tag: LHR is London Heathrow, JFK is New York JFK. Air traffic control uses a four-letter ICAO code for the same airport (EGLL, KJFK). Pick a letter for every code that starts with it, or type a code or a city into the search box at the top.

Some codes stand for a whole city rather than one airport. BJS, BUH, BUE, CTU, CHI, HOU, JKT, LON, MIL, YMQ, MOW, NYC, OSA, PAR, REK, RIO, ROM, SAO, SPK, SEL, SHA, STO, TYO, YTO, WAS cover every airport of their city in flight searches.

Airport codes by first letter

S has the most codes (281). Most Canadian airports are under Y.

Codes of the 50 busiest airports

IATA	ICAO	Airport	City	Country
ATL	KATL	Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport	Atlanta	United States
DXB	OMDB	Dubai International Airport	Dubai	United Arab Emirates
HND	RJTT	Tokyo Haneda International Airport	Tokyo	Japan
PVG	ZSPD	Shanghai Pudong International Airport	Shanghai	China
IST	LTFM	İstanbul Airport	Istanbul	Turkey
ORD	KORD	Chicago O'Hare International Airport	Chicago	United States
LHR	EGLL	London Heathrow Airport	London	United Kingdom
DFW	KDFW	Dallas Fort Worth International Airport	Dallas-Fort Worth	United States
DEN	KDEN	Denver International Airport	Denver	United States
DEL	VIDP	Indira Gandhi International Airport	New Delhi	India
CAN	ZGGG	Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport	Guangzhou	China
ICN	RKSI	Incheon International Airport	Seoul	South Korea
CDG	LFPG	Charles de Gaulle International Airport	Paris	France
LAX	KLAX	Los Angeles International Airport	Los Angeles	United States
AMS	EHAM	Amsterdam Airport Schiphol	Amsterdam	Netherlands
MAD	LEMD	Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport	Madrid	Spain
SZX	ZGSZ	Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport	Shenzhen	China
FRA	EDDF	Frankfurt Main Airport	Frankfurt	Germany
BKK	VTBS	Suvarnabhumi Airport	Bangkok	Thailand
JFK	KJFK	John F. Kennedy International Airport	New York	United States
SIN	WSSS	Singapore Changi Airport	Singapore	Singapore
BCN	LEBL	Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport	Barcelona	Spain
MCO	KMCO	Orlando International Airport	Orlando	United States
TFU	ZUTF	Chengdu Tianfu International Airport	Chengdu	China
CGK	WIII	Soekarno-Hatta International Airport	Jakarta	Indonesia
PKX	ZBAD	Beijing Daxing International Airport	Beijing	China
HKG	VHHH	Hong Kong International Airport	Hong Kong	Hong Kong
SFO	KSFO	San Francisco International Airport	San Francisco	United States
PEK	ZBAA	Beijing Capital International Airport	Beijing	China
MIA	KMIA	Miami International Airport	Miami	United States
FCO	LIRF	Rome–Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci International Airport	Rome	Italy
PHX	KPHX	Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport	Phoenix	United States
SEA	KSEA	Seattle–Tacoma International Airport	Seattle	United States
LAS	KLAS	Harry Reid International Airport	Las Vegas	United States
HGH	ZSHC	Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport	Hangzhou	China
MNL	RPLL	Ninoy Aquino International Airport	Metro Manila	Philippines
SHA	ZSSS	Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport	Shanghai	China
KMG	ZPPP	Kunming Changshui International Airport	Kunming	China
CLT	KCLT	Charlotte Douglas International Airport	Charlotte	United States
SAW	LTFJ	Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport	Istanbul	Turkey
TPE	RCTP	Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport	Taoyuan	Taiwan
GRU	SBGR	São Paulo/Guarulhos–Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport	Sao Paulo	Brazil
BOM	VABB	Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport	Mumbai	India
IAH	KIAH	George Bush Intercontinental Airport	Houston	United States
EWR	KEWR	Newark Liberty International Airport	New York	United States
YYZ	CYYZ	Toronto Pearson International Airport	Toronto	Canada
MEX	MMMX	Mexico City Benito Juárez International Airport	Mexico City	Mexico
MUC	EDDM	Munich Airport	Munich	Germany
SVO	UUEE	Sheremetyevo International Airport	Moscow	Russia
SYD	YSSY	Sydney Kingsford Smith International Airport	Sydney	Australia

Busiest by passengers a year in open data: Eurostat, US BTS, the statistics offices of Canada, Brazil, Chile, Australia, Korea and Japan, and Wikidata. Codes: OurAirports (public domain) and Wikidata (CC0). Sources

Looking for one country? Airport codes by country. The whole list as one file: free airport dataset (CSV, JSON, CC0) or the airport API, e.g. LHR.

Questions

The three-letter IATA code on tickets, bag tags and departure boards, such as LHR for London Heathrow or JFK for New York JFK. Pilots and air traffic control use a second, four-letter code from ICAO (EGLL for Heathrow, KJFK for JFK).