0:00:00.000,0:00:03.090
There are thousands of airports[br]connecting cities across countries

0:00:03.090,0:00:08.657
and continents. Yet, with just 3 letters, [br]from 'AAC' and 'BBI' to 'YYZ' and 'ZZU',

0:00:08.657,0:00:10.537
both me and you and our bags

0:00:10.537,0:00:14.006
route around the world[br]as unambiguously as practically possible.

0:00:14.006,0:00:15.153
Airport Codes!

0:00:15.153,0:00:18.256
If you fly, you know them as part of[br]the planning on your tickets,

0:00:18.256,0:00:22.077
trackers, and tags, and even as part of [br]the port itself as big big branding.

0:00:22.077,0:00:25.965
It's impossible not to wonder, bored on a[br]long haul with only in-flight

0:00:25.965,0:00:28.582
entertainment, about potential patterns[br]peaking through,

0:00:28.582,0:00:31.926
like all of the Canadian "Y" airports.[br]Why Canada?

0:00:31.926,0:00:35.095
And, why everyone? How do all of these[br]codes code?

0:00:35.095,0:00:39.879
Well, neighbor, to find the answer, we[br]need to divert this flight to 'YUL',

0:00:39.879,0:00:42.697
the Canadian city that's capitol of codes,[br]Montreal,

0:00:42.697,0:00:46.617
where is headquartered IATA, the[br]International Air Transport Association.

0:00:46.617,0:00:52.176
It's not a governmental organization,[br]more an independent aviation agency

0:00:52.176,0:00:55.722
for airlines, where they work to make [br]airports and airplanes increasingly

0:00:55.722,0:00:59.018
interoperable using humanity's[br]most exciting and powerful, yet

0:00:59.018,0:01:01.542
oft-maligned as dull tool, Standards!

0:01:01.542,0:01:06.120
One of which is the IATA Airport Code -[br]three letters to identify every airport

0:01:06.120,0:01:09.426
in the world, from the most connected[br]to the least.

0:01:09.426,0:01:13.802
All are coded so companies can communicate[br]clearly and concisely complicated

0:01:13.802,0:01:16.577
connections to carry their customers and[br]their bags.

0:01:16.577,0:01:20.822
And, actually, the code IATA created isn't[br]only for airports, rather, technically

0:01:20.822,0:01:24.959
it's a location code for all kinds of[br]transportation interchanges,

0:01:24.959,0:01:27.774
like plane stations that connect to train[br]stations such as

0:01:27.774,0:01:31.415
Amsterdam Schiphol, which is just so[br]intermodally epic!

0:01:31.415,0:01:35.120
Okay, let's try not to get distracted by[br]efficient infrastructure (easier said

0:01:35.120,0:01:37.787
than done). Here's how the IATA code[br]is supposed to work.

0:01:37.787,0:01:42.707
One airport, One code, which is unique[br]because airport names are not.

0:01:42.707,0:01:47.319
Booking passage to Portland? Cool, that[br]could be Oregon or Maine or Victoria.

0:01:47.319,0:01:48.305
(Australia.)

0:01:48.305,0:01:52.359
Ambiguity is the enemy. International[br]flying creates communication connections

0:01:52.359,0:01:56.486
between every language on Earth. So, the[br]IATA code helps when you don't speak

0:01:56.486,0:01:59.189
Greenlandic or Odia but still need to[br]book a flight to

0:01:59.189,0:02:03.229
"Kangerlussuaq" via[br]"Bhubaneswar"

0:02:03.229,0:02:05.038
(I'm so sorry Greenland and India.)

0:02:05.038,0:02:09.491
Instead of mangling pronunciation, it's[br]just "SFJ via BBI." Much clearer! Not just

0:02:09.491,0:02:12.798
for you, but also for the ground crew[br]getting the bags through.

0:02:12.798,0:02:16.810
Ideally, the IATA code comes from the[br]first three letters of the location, like

0:02:16.810,0:02:21.340
with Gibraltar where Gibraltar Airport[br]is given "GIB." GIB, Gibraltar.

0:02:21.340,0:02:24.700
So, going to Cork, it'll be "COR" -[br]COR, Ireland.

0:02:24.700,0:02:28.358
Oh, that didn't work.[br]Seems Cordoba, Argentina built their

0:02:28.358,0:02:32.353
airport first and got "COR" ahead of Cork[br]so, uh, "ORK" for Cork!

0:02:32.353,0:02:36.129
Tough noogies, Ork, Germany, that's an[br]adorable town name you've got there, but

0:02:36.129,0:02:39.902
you're going to need to pick something[br]else for your code. Thus, a single code

0:02:39.902,0:02:43.779
collision kicks off a consistency cascade[br]as airports compete for clearer codes.

0:02:43.779,0:02:47.476
So, if your local airport has an[br]odd 3 letters, there's probably a rival

0:02:47.476,0:02:51.721
port that picked previously. This is one [br]of the major things IATA does - coordinate

0:02:51.721,0:02:55.926
everyone's code preferences, which means[br]dealing with not just individual airports,

0:02:55.926,0:02:59.937
but all of the aviation agencies in[br]different countries, some with their own

0:02:59.937,0:03:04.433
desires for inter-country code[br]consistency, such as Canada, who clearly

0:03:04.433,0:03:08.144
claimed all of the 'Y's. Thus, picking a[br]'Y' one at random, at least you know

0:03:08.144,0:03:10.720
roughly where you're going to go.

0:03:10.720,0:03:14.402
Oops! No! That didn't work![br]YKM brought us to Washington, USA,

0:03:14.402,0:03:18.770
and since we're here, we might as well[br]talk about the FAA. In America, the

0:03:18.770,0:03:21.636
Federal Aviation Administration,[br]daughter of the Department

0:03:21.636,0:03:25.401
of Transportation, is given the job of [br]assigning all American airports an

0:03:25.401,0:03:30.902
American airport code. Yes, the FAA [br]actually has her own set of three letter

0:03:30.902,0:03:34.334
codes, but we're not going to talk about[br]it because it means in America

0:03:34.334,0:03:37.962
there's "One airport, Two codes," and, [br]for simplicity, I'm sticking to this

0:03:37.962,0:03:43.141
story, "One airport, One code," [br]right? Right. Now, FAA has letters

0:03:43.141,0:03:46.758
she really rather American airports [br]noooooooot.

0:03:46.762,0:03:51.979
Please, no: N, Q, W, K, Z, or Y.[br]'N' is reserved for the Navy for,

0:03:51.979,0:03:55.790
"OMG, is it for aircraft carriers?"[br]No, they use an unrelated and additional

0:03:55.790,0:03:59.910
system that we're also not going to talk[br]about. The Navy 'N' is given to Navy bases

0:03:59.910,0:04:03.946
with airports. So, American airports like[br]Nashville that seem like they should start

0:04:03.946,0:04:07.466
with the letter "N" were encouraged to[br]pick something else, like 'B',

0:04:07.466,0:04:11.924
for B-nashville. There is also 'A' for the[br]Army and the Air Force, although not

0:04:11.924,0:04:14.537
all of the 'A's, so there's a bunch of 'A'[br]airports like

0:04:14.537,0:04:17.292
Albuquerque, Aberdeen, Anchorage,[br]Amarillo, and Augusta.

0:04:17.292,0:04:20.698
Next, 'Q' FAA wants avoided because of[br](checks notes)

0:04:20.698,0:04:24.987
Morse code? Wow, really?[br]There's a set of three letter

0:04:24.987,0:04:29.431
international Morse code that begin with[br]'Q' for 'quicky communications' that are

0:04:29.431,0:04:35.355
still used, I guess? So because of 1800s[br]telegraph slang, American airports

0:04:35.355,0:04:40.065
shouldn't start with the letter 'Q'.[br]Next, 'K' and 'W' the FAA advises against

0:04:40.065,0:04:43.904
because FCC, the Federal Communications[br]Commission, daughter of no one, she's an

0:04:43.904,0:04:48.616
independent agency, assigns 'K' and 'W'[br]for US civilian broadcast stations, so

0:04:48.616,0:04:52.509
that thing on the radio they say,[br]"KMAD Action News!" or

0:04:52.509,0:04:58.251
"WDUL Public Airwaves," yea, they all[br]start with a 'K' or a 'W' which is

0:04:58.251,0:05:04.256
actually location information. 'K's are[br]in the west and 'W's in the east, except

0:05:04.256,0:05:08.296
for the middle where it's both?[br]FCC, why did you do it this way?

0:05:08.296,0:05:12.826
Well, since you coded those codes first,[br]FAA discourages airports from starting

0:05:12.826,0:05:17.644
with those letters. Even though broadcast[br]codes are 4 letters, not 3, and they're,

0:05:17.644,0:05:21.959
you know, radio stations, not airports,[br]and definitely not weather stations.

0:05:21.959,0:05:25.371
"Of course they're not weather stations."[br]"Why would you even say that?"

0:05:25.371,0:05:28.084
No reason. It won't come up later.[br]Don't worry. Moving on.

0:05:28.084,0:05:31.394
'Z' is reserved for air route traffic[br]control centers themselves, and

0:05:31.394,0:05:33.337
why no 'Y'? Because Canada, of course!

0:05:33.337,0:05:36.576
Yes, I understand that's not an[br]explanation. We'll get to it later.

0:05:36.576,0:05:40.621
That's America's preferences for airport[br]codes, but other countries exist, and

0:05:40.621,0:05:44.712
their aviation agencies don't care at all[br]which letters the United States avoids,

0:05:44.712,0:05:48.111
so while 'B-nashville' was building her[br]big big branding,

0:05:48.111,0:05:51.295
Nassau grabbed the 'N' to get 'NAS'[br]for the Bahamian capitol.

0:05:51.295,0:05:55.238
There's no shortage of airport codes that[br]start outside the US with America's

0:05:55.238,0:06:00.104
reluctant letters, and also, because[br]FAA's precedents aren't laws, you can

0:06:00.104,0:06:04.177
find American exceptions like[br]'KEK', 'WAH', 'YAK', 'QWG', and 'ZZV.'

0:06:04.177,0:06:07.810
Boy, that was fun to say! Let's end the[br]video with more of that, shall we?

0:06:07.810,0:06:11.739
And that 'NEW' must particularly burn[br]Newark, New Jersey, who had to go with

0:06:11.739,0:06:15.458
'Ewark, Ew Jersey' instead. Right,[br]finishing this thought, every country

0:06:15.458,0:06:19.054
and their agencies has their own wacky[br]preferences for letters and wants to

0:06:19.054,0:06:23.105
ignore every other country's preferences,[br]and IATA's job is to coordinate

0:06:23.105,0:06:28.164
between them. The result of which is:[br]IATA airport codes have no satisfying

0:06:28.164,0:06:33.558
system at all, which is so sad for a [br]standard, and the story of

0:06:33.558,0:06:38.335
"One airport, One code" also falls[br]apart even within IATA because of

0:06:38.335,0:06:42.337
megacodes for megacities.[br]Example: London, which has 6

0:06:42.337,0:06:45.926
international airports - Heathrow,[br]Gatwick, City, Luton, Stansted, Southend.

0:06:45.926,0:06:49.405
'LHR', 'LGW', 'LCY', 'LTN'.[br]"Oh, they all start with L?"

0:06:49.405,0:06:54.585
No, 'STN' and 'SEN', but there's a[br]megacode for them all - 'LON',

0:06:54.585,0:06:58.676
which you can use while searching for [br]flights landing in London but don't care

0:06:58.676,0:07:03.578
where, even though these airports are[br]ages apart. LON is the international city

0:07:03.578,0:07:07.910
mega-est megacode, but there's also[br]Moscow 'MOW' and Stockholm 'STO' with

0:07:07.910,0:07:12.170
4 airports each, and more with 2 or 3,[br]like 'NYC' and 'BUE.'

0:07:12.170,0:07:15.523
And then, code-wise, is the most[br]exceptional airport:

0:07:15.523,0:07:19.803
EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg, an[br]airport so nice they coded it thrice.

0:07:19.803,0:07:24.334
'MLH', 'BSL', 'EAP.' How this happened is[br]France and Switzerland both wanted an

0:07:24.334,0:07:27.686
airport here-ish near the German border[br]and teamed up.

0:07:27.686,0:07:31.493
France provided the land, Switzerland the[br]capital, Germany has nothing to do with

0:07:31.493,0:07:34.929
this, and the pair co-built the port,[br]constructing duplicate and separate

0:07:34.929,0:07:39.329
everythings. So it was, effectively, 2[br]airports run by 2 countries with

0:07:39.329,0:07:43.861
2 runways and 2 sets of rules, and thus[br]needed 2 airport codes, depending on

0:07:43.861,0:07:47.999
which side passengers could connect[br]through and one megacode if it

0:07:47.999,0:07:51.752
didn't matter. But, all of this doesn't[br]mega-matter now because the two airports

0:07:51.752,0:07:56.572
mostly act as one anyway. Thus, one[br]airport, three codes. And there are plans

0:07:56.572,0:08:00.102
to run a railway through for epic[br]inter-modalness, so it could become

0:08:00.102,0:08:03.986
one airport, four codes, or five codes.[br]I mean, why not at this point?

0:08:03.986,0:08:09.000
So yea, an airport isn't uniquely[br]identified by one code and there's no

0:08:09.000,0:08:13.631
location information coded in this[br]location code, not even a

0:08:13.631,0:08:17.603
checksum letter? What is this, a social[br]security number? Without a checksum,

0:08:17.603,0:08:22.219
if you're planning a flight to 'CGP'[br]in Bangladesh but typo the incorrect

0:08:22.219,0:08:27.428
'CPG', you'll end up in Argentina instead.[br]Again. But, at least the chance of a

0:08:27.428,0:08:31.915
switcheroo like that must be pretty small.[br]After all, a 3 letter code means

0:08:31.915,0:08:37.665
17,000 permutations - way more than the[br]actual number of airports, which is only

0:08:37.665,0:08:45.180
40,000 airports worldwide?! How can that[br]possibly be true? Well, it's time to

0:08:45.180,0:08:50.050
introduce you to ICAO, the International[br]Civil Aviation Organization, daughter of

0:08:50.050,0:08:54.354
the United Nations, who also lives in[br]Montreal with IATA. And, it might seem

0:08:54.354,0:08:58.195
like they're the same, but IATA actually[br]only covers what we might call the

0:08:58.195,0:09:01.944
standard commercial airports you'd find[br]searching for flights normally.

0:09:01.944,0:09:06.056
While ICAO covers what she calls[br]"aerodromes," which is everything from

0:09:06.056,0:09:09.950
the world's busiest passenger airport in[br]the always unlikely seeming

0:09:09.950,0:09:14.097
Atlanta, Georgia, down to rarely used[br]runways on ranches in Texas, of which

0:09:14.097,0:09:18.859
there are an absolutely absurd number.[br]So with all those aerodromes to account

0:09:18.859,0:09:22.692
for, ICAO uses 4 letters, which gives,[br]wow, a lot more options

0:09:22.692,0:09:27.190
(thanks exponentials), and she also uses[br]the extra space to add location

0:09:27.190,0:09:32.012
information. Finally! In ICAO system,[br]the first letter of an airport code is

0:09:32.012,0:09:36.489
roughly where on Earth it is. 'P' is for[br]airports in the Pacific, one letter to

0:09:36.489,0:09:40.298
cover flying over the most terrifyingly[br]empty half of the Earth (try not to think

0:09:40.298,0:09:44.207
about it as you look down into the endless[br]abyss) before arriving at South America,

0:09:44.207,0:09:49.911
'S'. Then 'M' for Middle America, and 'K'[br]for 'Kontinental America'?

0:09:49.911,0:09:55.260
'C', sensibly, is Canadian America, and[br]flying over the pole we get to 'U' for

0:09:55.260,0:09:59.557
'Used to be USSR.' Yes, that's actually[br]the name. Look, what makes standards

0:09:59.557,0:10:03.357
standards is their stubbornness.[br]Just because a gigantic country collapsed

0:10:03.357,0:10:07.525
is no reason to change what millions of[br]flight computers know in their code and

0:10:07.525,0:10:11.641
pilots in their brains. After ICAO's first[br]letter there is also a bunch of second

0:10:11.641,0:10:15.614
sub-letters, well except for America and[br]Canada, who skip that, but don't worry.

0:10:15.614,0:10:18.626
Moving on, as an example, if your airport[br]starts with a 'F',

0:10:18.626,0:10:23.530
it's in 'Southern aFrica,' and if the next[br]letter is 'A,' that's South Africa, and

0:10:23.530,0:10:27.905
the last 2 letters are for the airport,[br]so Cape Town gets CT for a 'FACT'.

0:10:27.905,0:10:32.277
Of course, there are some exceptions like[br]Antarctica, the continent no one owns but

0:10:32.277,0:10:36.075
all of the cool kids want to claim.[br]Aerodromes here are supposed to use the

0:10:36.075,0:10:40.201
code for the country's claim they're in,[br]such as Williams Field, which is American

0:10:40.201,0:10:45.222
run but uses 'NZWD' because it's in the[br]Kiwi claim. But, also lots of

0:10:45.222,0:10:49.068
Antarctic aerodromes use pseudo codes[br](no we're not going to talk about what

0:10:49.068,0:10:53.519
that means) which start with 'AT' and end[br]with a number, like 27 for Troll Airfield

0:10:53.519,0:10:58.498
serving Troll Research Station which runs[br]on Troll Time. Norway, is that you? I knew

0:10:58.498,0:11:03.461
it was, but you really should be using[br]'EN' for 'Europe, Norway' and 'TR' is

0:11:03.461,0:11:08.046
free. 'ENTR Trolls', it's so perfect! And[br]yes, the 27 means there are at least

0:11:08.046,0:11:11.998
26 other runways in Antarctica (I was[br]surprised too) but this, along with all

0:11:11.998,0:11:15.716
of the ranches, is how you get to crazy[br]numbers of aerodromes. And yes, ICAO

0:11:15.716,0:11:20.457
has more exceptions to this system that[br]we're going to skip, but I can't resist

0:11:20.457,0:11:26.199
just one more which is Region J. Looking[br]at the map, you won't be able to find it

0:11:26.199,0:11:32.155
because 'J' is Mars. When the rover[br]arrived at Jezero Crater, ICAO gave the

0:11:32.155,0:11:35.880
historic landing location the code 'JZRO'.

0:11:35.880,0:11:39.842
Okay, but that's it for exceptions. So,[br]to sum up, the story of one airport,

0:11:39.842,0:11:44.118
one code, was just that - a story.[br]Tons of airports have at least 2, and

0:11:44.118,0:11:48.656
when they do, the ICAO code is what[br]computers and pilots know to plan where

0:11:48.656,0:11:53.274
the plane needs to go, and IATA is what[br]passengers say to get on their way, but if

0:11:53.274,0:11:58.466
ICAO exists with a more comprehensive[br]code, why is IATA at all?

0:11:58.466,0:12:02.882
So IATA isn't about you, it's about[br]your bags.

0:12:02.882,0:12:07.418
At an airport, you, as a human, walk to[br]your connecting flight, but your bags

0:12:07.418,0:12:12.362
below need a lot of logistical assistance.[br]Before IATA, there was just like a

0:12:12.362,0:12:17.430
handwritten tag saying, "Please get me[br]where my owner is going," written in

0:12:17.430,0:12:22.476
potentially every language on Earth, so[br]you can't imagine how often that went

0:12:22.476,0:12:27.837
wrong. So, IATA used codes to make life[br]better for bags with bag tags with big

0:12:27.837,0:12:31.919
clear codes to get those bags cleanly[br]through connections across countries

0:12:31.919,0:12:36.077
and companies. And, the original plan[br]was that train stations with IATA codes

0:12:36.077,0:12:39.785
would also let you check in your bag[br]there, and it would be part of the

0:12:39.785,0:12:44.081
automatic connection too, but that mostly[br]doesn't happen now because of logistical

0:12:44.081,0:12:49.489
difficulties, which is the same reason[br]that the IATA code is a club that excludes

0:12:49.489,0:12:54.146
all of the little aerodromes too annoying[br]to attend to. So, if your bag's final

0:12:54.146,0:12:58.202
destination after connecting at Austin is[br]one of the many random ranch airstrips,

0:12:58.202,0:13:03.226
the ground crew is not going to swap your[br]bags onto the tiny crop duster for you.

0:13:03.226,0:13:07.755
Ditto if you're connecting through[br]Argentina to Antarctica anywhere. Those

0:13:07.755,0:13:12.907
tiny airports? No IATA code for you, and[br]without an IATA code, your bag depends

0:13:12.907,0:13:18.375
on you to get it all the way through. And,[br]that's what IATA is actually for. That

0:13:18.375,0:13:24.019
big big branding you see is for your bags,[br]and because of the tag, it became what

0:13:24.019,0:13:28.701
customers know, which brings us back to[br]the start. And, oh sorry Canada, I know

0:13:28.701,0:13:33.411
I've been avoiding answering the whys, but[br]it's just so much more complicated than

0:13:33.411,0:13:37.821
expected. There's a tale that the 'Y's[br]are an old system for if Canadian airports

0:13:37.821,0:13:41.203
had a weather station. 'Y' for 'Yes,[br]weather station' and

0:13:41.203,0:13:45.942
'W', 'without.' And, since pilots want to[br]know the weather, that explains all the

0:13:45.942,0:13:52.157
'Y's but also the few oddball Canadian[br]'W's. But, investigating the truth of that

0:13:52.157,0:13:58.338
story took 8 months of my life which I[br]will now give to you as an extremely

0:13:58.338,0:14:02.461
compressed executive summary.[br]Working backwards, the American and

0:14:02.461,0:14:07.285
Canadian IATA codes created in the 1950s[br]come from the last 3 letters of ICAO codes

0:14:07.285,0:14:12.590
created in the 1940s. The first letter of [br]ICAO codes come from the ITU, the

0:14:12.590,0:14:17.582
International Telecommunication Union's[br]codes created in the 1910s for radio

0:14:17.582,0:14:23.458
stations, which used 'K' for America and[br]'CY' for Canada. So, 'K' and 'CY' into

0:14:23.458,0:14:28.351
4 letters and back down to 3 leaves[br]'Y' for Canada. Here is where you

0:14:28.351,0:14:33.258
reasonably ask, "Why CY for Canada?"[br]but that goes all the way back to

0:14:33.258,0:14:38.208
telegraphs and beyond, so is a story for[br]another time.

0:14:38.208,0:14:43.770
But, for now, for this video, why 'Y' for[br]Canada? Because of radio callsigns

0:14:43.770,0:14:47.540
(because of a lot of other things),[br]because of US and Canada coordinating

0:14:47.540,0:14:53.097
that for flights within North America, it[br]really would be 'Y' for 'Yes Canada'

0:14:53.097,0:14:53.816
(mostly)

0:14:53.816,0:14:57.662
Well, that was a lot of bureaucratic[br]history, so let's finish with the final

0:14:57.662,0:15:00.948
fun IATA codes promised from before.[br]Starting with Sioux City with the

0:15:00.948,0:15:04.867
sensible looking 'SUX' until you say it[br]out loud, but to her credit, totally owns

0:15:04.867,0:15:08.496
that branding for airport merch. Good for[br]you, Sioux! And there's also

0:15:08.496,0:15:12.340
Beaches International Airport, summer[br]break central, their top 2 picks for codes

0:15:12.340,0:15:16.785
were picked, so to help the confused [br]collegiates find their connections, the

0:15:16.785,0:15:22.334
agencies agreed on 'ECP' to stand for[br]'Everyone Can Party' which is awesome

0:15:22.334,0:15:26.299
branding, but you'd never know because[br]beaches doesn't bother.

0:15:26.299,0:15:28.872
Geez 'ECP', you can a learn a thing or two[br]from Sioux.

0:15:28.872,0:15:32.340
But now everyone can party on this 'round[br]the world flight of IATA codes

0:15:32.340,0:15:34.675
entertaining to say out loud. Ready?

0:15:34.675,0:15:36.304
'FAB', 'BOO', 'EEK', 'COW', 'WOW',

0:15:36.304,0:15:37.591
'POO', 'GAG', 'BRO', 'BUT',

0:15:37.591,0:15:39.227
'GOT', 'HOT', 'PIE', 'YUM', 'UMM',

0:15:39.227,0:15:40.869
'MOM', 'DAD', 'MAD', 'RUN', 'FUN',

0:15:40.869,0:15:42.754
'IOU', 'FAQ', 'OMG', 'LOL'.