Airport codes European airports
In the aviation sector two different airport identification codes are being used, the IATA airport code and ICAO airport code. With these airport codes people can identify locations of airports all around the world.
IATA airport code
The IATA airport code consists of three letters and is defined by IATA (International Air Transport Association). IATA is an international trade organization that represents the interests of 240 member airlines that account for 84% of the total number of flights worldwide. The IATA airport code is the best known airport identification code. It is well known by travellers because it is prominently displayed on baggage tags attached at airport check-in desks. Usually, the code can easily be traced to the name of the airport or the nearby city. For example, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol has the IATA airport code AMS, while the code for London Heathrow Airport is LHR. Not every airport has a unique IATA airport code, from the 17,576 (26x26x26) codes more than 300 are used by more than one airport.
ICAO airport code
The ICAO airport code consists of four letters and is defined by ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization). ICAO is a specialized agency of the United Nations consisting of 193 countries. The ICAO airport code is used in the preparation of flight plans and is therefore mostly used by pilots and air traffic control. The codes are easy to trace, the Dutch ICAO airport code for instance always starts with EH (Europe Holland). The code of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is EHAM, where AM stands for Amsterdam. In Europe, the ICAO airport code always starts with an E (northern Europe), L (southern Europe), U (Russia and the former Soviet Union), B (Iceland and Kosovo) or G (Canary Islands). Unlike the IATA airport codes all ICAO airport codes are unique.