Bruce From United States of America, joined May 1999, 5027 posts, RR: 17 Posted (10 years 11 months 2 weeks 2 days 13 hours ago) and read 1390 times:
Why are there 2 sets of callsigns for airports? MIA is also known as KMIA, Prestwick is known as PIK or EGPK? And Heathrow (I think) is EGLL or LHR? Are most airports in Europe known by E___? In Mexico you have MMMX or MEX.
different letters gets confusing!!!!!!!!!
Bruce Leibowitz - Jackson, MS (KJAN) - Canon 50D/100-400L IS lens
Concorde1518 From United States of America, joined May 2001, 746 posts, RR: 0 Reply 6, posted (10 years 11 months 2 weeks 2 days 4 hours ago) and read 1323 times:
IACO codes are pretty much unheard of by passengers... Most people think that pilots refer to VHHH as HKG just like them...... My guess as to why there are two is that there are so many airports out there that the last three letters are bound to be repeated somewhere in the world. Therefore, if we add a letter in front depending on country and make it so the code DOESN'T necessarily reflect the name of the airport, there can be less confusion from differentiating between airports.... Airlines probably use the IATA codes for passengers, because no passenger will ever remember to use "EGLL", or "VHHH", so, they will use simple things like HKG or LHR....
Foghorn From United Kingdom, joined Nov 2001, 18 posts, RR: 0 Reply 7, posted (10 years 11 months 2 weeks 1 day 12 hours ago) and read 1276 times:
ICAO codes are not just for airports - they are 'location codes'. For instance Flight Information Regions, en-route Air Traffic Control centres and a variety of other aviation-related offices also have ICAO codes e.g. EGTT for the London FIR. This allows messages usung the AFTN (Aviation Fixed Telecommunication Network) to reach their intended recipients globally in a standardised way.
The ICAO codes are used almost exclusively within aviation (except occasionally when facing passengers). and are much more comprehensive than the IATA codes.
On the other hand, the three letter IATA codes were designed for travel agents (IATA = International Association of Travel Agents).