Airport codes in the United States.

[JordanD]

I've been curious about this for a while. How does the FAA decide whether or not an airport gets an identifier with a K at the beginning? I can't think of a reason. I thought maybe towered airports only but there's a lot of nontowered airports with a "K" identifier. Then I thought maybe airports with a paved runway, but recently I flew to I69 in Ohio, which has a paved runway. Does runway lenght have something to do with it?

[ASpilot2be]

Not all airports have the letter "K" at the beginning. Up here in Alaska, and Hawaii our airports start with "P", example: Anchorage=PANC.

[DeltaRules]

Does the "I" indicate anything? Along with Jordan's I69, two airports near DAY are I17 & I think I19. Parr Airport in Zanesville, OH is 42I, and all three of these have paved runways.

A few airports on US soil in the Caribbean have "T" at the start of their code; SJU is TJSJ, STT is TIST, & STX is TISX.

DeltaRules

[JordanD]

I know that K is designated for the continental US. Usually on charts the small grass strips have identifiers like 23KY or something like that, but I don't see why something in Ohio would be I69.

[indian airlines]

There are many airports that aren't K###. Princeton for example is 39N. I don't know why though, or what convention regulates this.

[DeltaRules]

I know that K is designated for the continental US. Usually on charts the small grass strips have identifiers like 23KY or something like that, but I don't see why something in Ohio would be I69.

Some airports in Ohio have an OH** distinction. OH36 is Zanesville's Riverside Airport.

DeltaRules

[Van Hoolio]

Not all airports have the letter "K" at the beginning. Up here in Alaska, and Hawaii our airports start with "P", example: Anchorage=PANC.

Some of the ICAO identifiers sort of make sense:

PANC Anchorage
PAEI Fairbanks
PAJN Juneau

"PA" I assume means "Pacific Alaska"

PHNL Honolulu
PHTO Hilo
PHOG Maui

PH, Pacific Hawaii


EHAM Amsterdam
EH, Europe Holland

EGLL London Heathrow
EG, Europe Great Britain

[chrisburns]

PAEI is Fairbanks Air Force Base, PAFA is Fairbanks International Airport.

[Van Hoolio]

And they are both in Fairbanks, very good.

[ACman]

In Canada, most of the ICAO's start with C like CYYZ. CYVR, CYEG, on the other hand alot of the IATA's start with Y, like YHZ, YYZ. YUL.

[ptbodale]

Is your question about IATA codes (3 letters) or ICAO codes (4 letters)?

[screaming_emu]

if there is a number in the airport code it doesn't get a K....not entirely sure why.

[LRJet Guy]

"K" is the letter used to designate Continental United States for four letter ICAO airport codes.

Only airports that get 4 letter codes in the US are the airports currently equipped with an ILS, or planning one.

The airport I learned to fly at recently got a 4 letter code from the 3 character code it had after the runway was extended and an ILS planned.