Everybody who travelled by airplane has met an airport code. The badge at the luggage handle shows the destination airport with a three letter code. This code is called IATA-Code (International Air Transport Association) or in pilots language Location Identifier.

The IATA was founded in April 1945 in Havana, Cuba. The IATA started with 57 members out of 31 nations, mostly from Europe and North America. Today they have more than 270 members out of 140 nations.

Here you will find an explanation of the IATA-Code. Thats not all!

In the beginning a three letter code was ok. In the mean time the number of airports growth strongly, a new system was born, the ICAO-code. The ICAO-code is a four letter code. The first letter defines an area on the earth. The first and second letter together defines the country. The third and the fourth letter are defined by the country itself. All four letters together defines an airport.

Here you will find an explanation of the ICAO-Code.

The USA has a lack of free IATA- and ICAO-codes. The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) use for US-airports additional codes, the FAA-Codes.