Standard Codes in Aviation & Travel

• In multilingual, multicultural environments, precise communication is difficult due to differing languages, scripts, and pronunciations.
• A single, simple language is needed to convey precise meaning in such settings.
• The Aviation and Travel industry exemplifies this, requiring precise communication of flight numbers, times, etc., among people speaking and writing different languages.
• This industry developed simple terms and codes for standardization, ease of understanding, efficiency, and preciseness.
• Special terms became necessary with automation, as computers understand only standardized information codes.
• These standard codes are now globally used and important in the Aviation & Travel industry.
• Code is a rule for converting information (letter, word, phrase, gesture) into another form for communication in difficult situations.
• For example, China and Liechtenstein can be referred to as CN & LI using standard codes.
• Encoding converts information into symbols, while decoding is the reverse process of converting code symbols back into understandable information.
• Cable code replaces words with shorter words for quicker, less expensive, and confidential communication
• Code words are chosen based on factors like length and pronounce-ability, with meanings fitting commercial, military, etc., needs.
• Acronyms and abbreviations are codes, and languages/writing systems can be seen as codes for human thought.
• Code words may gain independent existence, with the original phrase's meaning becoming forgotten.
• Terms are words/compound words used in specific contexts, while terminology is the study of terms and their use.
• Terminology systematically labels and designates concepts for documenting and promoting correct usage.
• Terminology focuses on meaning and conveyance of concepts based on theoretical principles, and involves assigning, compiling, and managing terms.
• Systematic terminology deals with all terms in a specific subject field or domain of activity.
• Terms and codes help travel agents work efficiently, with the travel industry aiming to satisfy customers.
• Codes for cities, airports, airlines, aircraft, currencies, and countries exist to help travel agents work quickly and proficiently.
• Travel agents must use these codes to create bookings and provide information to airlines and customers.
• The travel industry would be unworkable without codes.
• Identifying codes can be complex, and codes are for cities, airports, airlines, countries, currencies, states, special services, meals, miscellaneous items, phonetic codes, etc.
• Industry leaders, associations, or governments develop terminology for various industries.
• Associations like IATA, ICAO, and ISO develop most Aviation and Travel Industry codes and terms, followed globally.
• Service requirement codes are the most commonly used codes in the travel and tourism industry.
• The service information field is part of a Passenger Name Record(PNR), and it records information that airlines must have.
• It is used to transmit passenger-related requests such as ages of children, special meals, and blind passengers.
• Travel agents use it to request special services for customers on flights.

IATA Meal Codes

• Standardized meal codes have been developed to assist travel agents/passengers easily communicates meal preferences to airlines
• All codes include the suffix "ML"
• HFML - High Fiber Meals
• LPML - Low Protein Meal
• ORML - Oriental Meal
• PRML - Low Purin Meal
• VJML - Vegetarian Jain Meal
• VOML - Vegetarian Oriental Meal
• AVML - Vegetarian Hindu Meal
• BBML - Baby Meal
• BLML - Bland Meal
• FPML - Fruit Platter Meal
• GFML - Gluten Intolerant Meal
• LFML - Low Fat Meal
• LSML - Low Salt Meal
• NLML - Low Lactose Meal
• RVML - Vegetarian Raw Meal
• VGML - Vegetarian Vegan Meal
• VLML - Vegetarian Lacto-ovo Meal

IATA Class Codes

• IATA class codes help airlines standardize conditions of travel, passenger tickets, and other traffic documents.
• These codes are sometimes called Reservation/Booking Designators (RBD).

First Class Category

• R = Supersonic
• P = First Class Premium
• F = First Class
• A = First Class Discounted

Business Class Category

• J = Business Class Premium
• C = Business Class
• D = Business Class Discounted
• I = Business Class Discounted
• Z = Business Class Discounted

Economy/Coach Class Category

• W = Economy/Coach Premium
• S = Economy/Coach Premium
• Y = Economy/Coach
• B = Economy/Coach Discounted
• H = Economy/Coach Discounted
• K = Economy/Coach Discounted
• L = Economy/Coach Discounted
• M = Economy/Coach Discounted
• N = Economy/Coach Discounted
• Q = Economy/Coach Discounted
• T = Economy/Coach Discounted
• V = Economy/Coach Discounted
• X = Economy/Coach Discounted

City and Airport Codes

• Three-letter city codes were created by the travel industry to shorten city references.
• The system of Airport Codes was subsequently born from the fact that one city can have multiple airports serving it.
• Examples include LON airports: LHR (Heathrow), LGW (Gatwick), LCY (London City), LTN (Luton), and NYC airports: JFK, LGA, EWR.
• The need for a standard code system increased as technology improved.
• Airports worldwide are now universally known by a unique three-letter code, the "International Air Transport Association (IATA) Location Identifier".
• Examples: ABE (Allentown/Bethlehem/Easton, Pennsylvania) to ZRH (Zurich, Switzerland)
• This simplifies communication for pilots, controllers, travel agents, and computers.
• The National Weather Service used a two-letter identification system, before airport codes were needed.
• Airlines adopted this system, but as airline services grew, a three-letter system was created.
• Existing airports added an X to their weather station code such as Los Angeles became LAX, Portland became PDX, and Phoenix became PHX.

Examples of Airport Codes

• ATL is Atlanta, BOS is Boston, MIA is Miami, SIN is Singapore, and SYD is Sydney
• DFW is Dallas Fort Worth, MSP is Minneapolis/St. Paul, and GSP is Greenville/Spartanburg
• SLC = Salt Lake City, POS = Port of Spain , PAP = Port au Prince
• Louisiana = ESF (Esler Field in Alexandria), Paris = ORY (Orly) and CDG (Charles De Gaulle), Tokyo = NRT (Narita)
• MSY = Moisant Stock Yards (New Orleans), CMH = Columbus Municipal Hanger, BWI = Baltimore Washington International, LGW = London Gatwick, and LHR = London Heathrow.
• Special interest groups lobbied to obtain special letters.
• The Navy saved all the new ‘N’ codes (NPA in Pensacola, Florida and NKX in Miramar).
• The Federal Communications Committee set aside the 'W' and 'K' codes for radio stations.
• ‘Q' designated international telecommunications, and ‘Z’ was reserved for special uses like ZCX (FAA's air traffic control headquarters).
• Canada uses ‘Y' codes which helps explain YUL and YYC
• The lack of letters drives creativity for Newark (EWR), Norfolk (ORF) and Newport News (PHF).
• Kansas City airport chose MCI (assigned for Mid-Continent International).
• As aviation grew, the three-letter combinations became insufficient and expanded to include numbers and four-digit combinations.
• Smaller airports can use alternative codes: 5W5 (South Raleigh Airport), W17 (Raleigh East Airport), 2NC3 (Sky-5 helipad), and ONC4 (Wake Medical Centre Helicopter.
• 2ND9 is in North Dakota, 85FL is in Florida using two-letter abbreviations.
• HHH now represents Hilton Head Island (formerly 49J as general aviation airport).
• Some city codes remained the same despite name changes: Bombay (BOM), Madras (MAA).
• Generally the three-letter airport code is the same when a city has only one airport serving it.
• Airlines utilize these codes internationally (SITA) for messages.

Country Codes

• Country codes are developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

ISO

• ISO is the world's largest developer and publisher of International Standards.
• The company is a network of national standards institutes from 161 countries, coordinated by a Central Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland.
• ISO is separate from the government and forms a bridge between the public and private sectors.
• Country codes include alphabetic/numeric geographical codes (geocodes) for representing countries and dependent areas in data processing and communications.
• Each country has a two-letter code, and there are various codes for cities and airports.
• Examples include US (United States of America) and IM (India).
• Code XU identifies part of Russia east of the Ural Mountains, and Code AQ represents Antarctica.

Ticketing codes

• To communicate the efficiency of airlines, car rental companies, cruise liners requires the use of codes.
• Alpha codes include two letters, while numeric codes include two or three digits for the airlines.
• IATA airline designators (IATA reservation codes) refers to two-character codes assigned by the International Air Transport Association to the world's airlines.
• Described in IATA's twice-annual publication "Standard Schedules Information Manual”.
• Airline designator codes follow the format “xx(a)”, involving two alpha-numeric characters and an optional alpha character.
• The optional third character in IATA has not been used since July 2008 due to legacy computer system constraints.
• The code AI signifies Air India and DL signifies Delta
• A flight designator includes the airline designator and numeric flight number.
• Designators identify an airline for commercial purposes (reservations, timetables, tickets, air waybills) and airline interline telecommunications.
• IATA airline codes are essential for identifying airlines, destinations, and traffic documents.
• All is fundamental to running electronic applications for passenger and cargo traffic.

Aircraft Codes

• The aerospace industry is divided into the civil and military sectors.
• The military sector's role has declined since the Cold War.
• Boeing dominates (60 %) the civil aviation sector, followed by Airbus (30 %).
• Civil aviation has scheduled air transport and general aviation (GA)
• A three-letter designation assigned to airline identifies an agency.
• Both a three-letter designator and a telephony designator are provided.
• In Airline Computer Reservation Systems, Timetables & Airport Information Systems IATA tie-ups with the ICAO will be used.

Aircraft Registration Codes

• Aircraft registration is an alphanumeric code, similar to a license plate.
• All aircraft must be registered following the Convention on International Civil Aviation with documentation.
• Most countries necessitate having a permanent firproof plate on the fuselage.
• This would assist and guide a post-fire or post-crash if any aircraft accidents were to occur
• The aircraft displays numbers on the aft fuselage or tail, called the "tail number."
• Civilian aircraft must have a registration number, including commercial airlines, jets, personal aircraft, helicopters, former military planes, gliders, lights, seaplanes, airships, blimps, and balloons.
• Each aircraft registration is unique, however countries may allows it to be reused as long as the aircraft is sold, destroyed or retired

Registration Rules

• The International Civil Aviation Organisation(ICOA) dictate the rules governing aircraft registration decided upon.
• First part of the code represents a prefix from two to there characters in length that is special to a particular nation made up of one to five characters.
• The suffix's structure is typically created by each country's aviation regulatory agency.
• Most nations follow basic rules for determining the suffix that often includes either three or four letters, or a mixture of letters and numbers.
• An “N-number" refers to the United States registration number, as it starts with the letter N.
• International prefix codes determine the nation of origin.
• Though many of the codes do not appear logical, the organisation attempt to base the prefix on the name of the country in its native language.
• For example: OE = Austria, F = France, D = Germany, I = Italy, JA = Japan, and G = Great Britain.
• The US Navy already used N to identify stations, and they chose this letter to represent the entire Untied States.
• To avoid confusion an international conference agreed to identify the nations by a letter.
• In India, the prefix is VT, following the British colonies' use of it that starts with V.
• The letter V was chosen to represent Viceroy by British overseas possessions.
• In 1947 when splitting from India, Pakistan used AP.
• Hong Kong returning to China changed its former VR to B.
• India is requesting a prefix change for a better expression for their independent nation.
• CCCP/SSSR (Soviet Union), FC (Free France), DDR (East Germany), J (Japan), 4YB (Arabic Federation), M/X (Mexico, HMAY (Mongolia), CH (Switzerland), and YE (Yemen) are no longer in use.

Phonetics

• Phonetics studies speech sounds in human language.
• Transcription is a universal system for sounds in spoken language.
• A popular way of writing with symbols is through The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
• In 1927 The phonetic code or alphabet was created by the ITU, This contributed to the aviation industry, and during World War II
• Helps the avoidance of confusion between alphabets that have similar sounds such as "B" and "D".
• Phonetic Alphabet is used not only by people in the military, but also by Pilots, Air Traffic Controllers, and customer service agents within the airlines.
• The Alphabet is as follows:
• A - Alpha
• B - Bravo
• C - Charlie
• D - Delta
• E - Echo
• F - Foxtrot
• G - Golf
• H - Hotel
• I - India
• J - Juliet
• K - Kilo
• L - Lima
• M - Mike
• N - November
• O - Oscar
• P - Papa
• Q - Quebec
• R - Romeo
• S - Sierra
• T - Tango
• U - Uniform
• V - Victor
• W - Whiskey
• X - X-ray
• Y - Yankee
• Z - Zulu

Currency Codes

• The world economy involves a complex system.
• There are most currencies for different countries, and each have their own forms of a currency.
• There can be confusion when travelling or when travelling to another country.
• If someone was to describe their currency as“dollar”, who are they talking about?
• Standard is the standard way to refer to each currency.

ISO 4217

• The international standard describing ISO 4217 is standard for the names of currencies.
• ISO 4217 lists, is the norm in the world when referring currencies and or business.
• If a newspaper was to publish it or even exchange rates, they would refer to ISO
• ISO 4217 codes are used on airline tickets and when taking an international train.
• The two-code letters are the letters of ISO 3166-1alpha-2 country codes and the code for the initial currency its self
• The ISO code for India is IN and therefore the India code becomes INR
• In the same fashion, the UAE is coded as AE making the Emirati Dirham coded as AED.
• The old currency is distinguished in the new currency by the last letter.
• For example, the code for Mexican Peso is MXN, “the code sometimes outlasts the usage of the term “new” itself".
• Where the B comes from the third letter of the word “ruble”, Russian Ruble went from RUR to RUB.

Miscellaneous Codes

• English is a language used in the travel industry and abbreviations are used for communications, request and information purposes.