As mentioned, not all airports in Canada with IATA codes begin with Y. There are some exceptions. A few that come to mind are Bathurst, New Brunswick (ZBF), Bella Bella, British Columbia (ZEL), Bella Coola, British Columbia (QBC). And the ICAO code isn't always the IATA code with a C added in front. For example, the ICAO code for Bella Bella, BC is CBBC (not CZEL) and the ICAO code for Bella Coola is CYBD (not CQBC). And the IATA code for Boundary Bay, BC near Vancouver is YDT but the ICAO code is CZBB. IATA also sometimes assigns codes for metropolitan areas that are not airport codes. They are often cities with more than one airport. A few examples: NYC (New York City), CHI (Chicago), WAS (Washington), LON (London), PAR (Paris), ROM (Rome), BUE (Buenos Aires), RIO (Rio de Janeiro), YTO (Toronto), YMQ (Montreal). YEA (Edmonton), TYO (Tokyo).
C - Designates a Canadian airport. Y - Stands for... - The airport has a weather observation station so an arriving or departing aircraft can obtain the current weather sequences. - The airport has a navigational aid to find the airport and make a published instrument approach for landing, or takeoff. - The last two letters denotes the airport has a communication facility (teletype, telephone, radio, etc) so that when an aircraft lands the crew can advise ATC they are on the ground safely. And / Or, a departing aircraft can phone ATC prior to takeoff to pass their proposed departure time, or a radio to call ATC when the aircraft has taken off so ATC can start tracking the aircraft enroute. - The last two letters were chosen at random to identify the airport. eg; CYYC and CYVR. In Canada the last two letters of the airport “YC” and “VR” was transmitted in morse-code over the navigational radio frequency at the airport so when the pilot tuned in they could identify the airport, as the airport they were to use. (or not use). This radio navigational aid was named, “Radio Range” (abbreviation RR). The Radio Range transmitted the letter “A” and the letter “N”, which when intersected formed 4 on-course signals that formed the airway the aircraft was to follow. Why do I know this? I am an Octogenarian. I was an Air Traffic Controller back in those days. I was also a part time Commercial Pilot that was a Flight Instructor that taught and flew the RR, which in those days was the only means of air navigation from takeoff to landing. Oh, I should also mention, we also had the "Non Directional Beacon," but thats another story. I am going to have to quit here. There is a lot more to it and I’m getting tired of typing. My book are short factual stories that happened during my aviation carrier in ATC and while Flying. My book Tower Tales... sites.google.com/view/jimhallsphotosite/towertales
OK so that explains the "Y" at the beginning of each Canadian airport 3 letter code. However, the remaining 2 letters still don't seem to make sense or seem to be connected to their respective cities for most of the rest (other than VR for Vancouver which makes sense). YZ for Toronto...huh? YJ for Victoria...what? UL for Montreal....why? For YC for Calgary, only the C makes some sense. Which brings me to another pattern. Many (but not all) Canadian airport 3 letter codes have "Y" as the second letter. Is there a story behind that? :-) Great video!....I am from YYZ and this has puzzled me for many years!
"As for the the 'YZ' part, that dates all the way back to the Morse Code railway stations along the Canadian National Railway, which had two-letter identifiers. The code for the station in Malton, Ontario, was YZ, which is where Pearson sits today-hence YYZ. " - from www.blogto.com/city/2019/04/why-torontos-airport-code-yyz/
UL was a weather station for Montreal. When the weather station moved to the airport so did the call sign YUL Why is there YMQ though for the same airport
Four letter ICAO codes for Canada all start with "C". In the Lower 48, they all start with "K". Alaska starts with PA, so the three letter code is different from the four letter ICAO unless the three letter starts with an "A". "P" is for Pacific, "A" is for Alaska. The last two letters narrow it down to the specific airport. Many people assume PANC is the Anchorage International (ANC) identifier with a "P" in front of it, but that's not the case. The "NC" is what pinpoints it as Anchorage International, as the "A" stands for Alaska. My airport identifier is IYS, but the ICOA identifier is PAWS. The same goes for Hawaii. The "P" is for Pacific and the "H" is for Hawaii. The last two letters narrow it down to the specific Hawaii airport.
Using ICAO codes Canada's airports still use the same identifier but with "C" in front of it. So pretty much all of them just turn into "CY__". While Canada does use ICAO we just use the three letter code for shorthand most of the time since everything starts with "C" anyways
You answered a question that wasn't even a question in my mind. When Montreal's airport was renamed Pierre Elliot Trudeau International Airport, there were discussion as to whether the airport code should be changed to PET or MTL. However, both were already in use, so the request was never presented to the IATA.
The irony there is that the airport is now named after someone who spent a considerable portion of his career campaigning to have it closed so that travelers could experience the joy of visiting Mirabel airport instead. The departure procedure that flight crews follow from YUL used to be known as the TRUDEAU 2 departure, however when his son became PM it was swiftly changed to the MONTREAL 1 departure, presumably so that it didn’t look like some kind of political endorsement.
I never bothered to look up what that Rush's song title stood for, so it was a surprise the time I flew into Toronto that I realized what the song was named for.
I don't know, that YUM might give your airport code a run for it's money. I personally love our YVR. Maybe in the future, Vancouver will really put the VR into YVR.
I used YYZ to get to Toronto to see Rush on the R40 tour for both Toronto gigs and also the Montreal one. Later I re-wrote the opening bars of YYZ to be morse code for YUL instead of YYZ, to see what Rush being from Montreal would have sounded like. Um, it wasn't as good...
I’ve never heard the explanation you gave. As a Canadian pilot I learned that Canadian airports were named after their radio station and that is why they have nondescript identifiers that often have no letters associated with their location. Like YYZ for instance for Toronto - which is actually an abbreviation of its full form which is CYYZ for the radio station CYYZ. Though some have letters which make it a bit easier to identify them like YVR for Vancouver or YKF for Kitchener.
Canada’s airport codes all star with a C and are 4 digits not three afterwards Y and Z are prevalent as a second digit but you will find airports like the Vulcan municipal CFX6, the High River Airport which is CEN4 and, the Cold Lake Regional Airport which is CEN5 Which don’t use either. Three digit codes such as YQL Lethbridge and YYC Calgary refer to the VOR Station and, the airports are CYQL and CYYC respectively. Sincerely a TC Commercial Pilot.
Hey Rocketry, we were talking about that IATA codes, not the ICAO codes. I'm sure as a commercial pilot you're aware of the difference between the two :) - TB
I like that Canada uses the Y in their airport code. The Toronto based band Rush wrote a song based on the Morse code for the VHF Morse broadcasted from the Toronto Pearson Airport (YYZ). For them seeing YYZ on their luggage meant they were going home.
Our code for Turnbull Field in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada is YSJ, and named Turnbull for the inventor of the electric variable pitch propeller, Wallace R. Turnbull.
Until today I assumed it worked on a system like radio station callsigns, where countries had a dedicated prefix, and that Canada's was "Y". I definitely learned something today!
The YUL code for Montreal comes from the 2 letter code (UL) used to identify the non directional radio beacon (NDB) that was in use at Dorval airport when it was created. These 2 letters were transmitted by Morse Code on a continuous basis by the NDB.
If you’re an aviation geek, this is most likely the most useful video of the year 😂 I’ve always questioned myself why with the Y... but this is the reason! Thx!
Thank you for explaining this. I never did know the reason for this. As a child, who flew overseas to visit relatives, AMS, FRA and DUS will self-explanatory; our system remained a mystery. I am Canadian, and, did work for Lufthansa in its Toronto office for a brief time in the late 1980s. I did know that most, but not all, national airports were referenced by 3-letter codes, beginning with "Y". One exception is Bathurst, New Brunswick (ZBF).
If you know the weather here it makes sense why all airports had weather stations. My hometown is YOW with our regionals in the area being YRP, YRO and actually one that throws the convention CNP3
I remember back in the day when Aeroplan had a glitch in their system, and considered all airport codes begin with Y to be within Canada. We were able to book tickets to Yantai, China (YNT), skip the second leg, and only be charged the miles required for a domestic flight.
Always wondered this ever since I visited, but I also worked in international pet transport for a few months, so was using the airport codes on a daily basis!
When I was hired by the national airline in Canada we were advised that the codes were developed to prevent the enemies of the allies from knowing where various airports were located across the country . This explains the development and the use of y. Many were training airports and were "camouflaged " in this way . In the post war era the D.O.T decided not to change the existing codes
I'm next to YQB Quebec City, and the famous canadian group Rush near Toronto YYZ airport thus yhe name of the drum solo YYZ. Very informative thank you
In my country Indonesia, the largest airport is Jakarta - Soekarno Hatta International Airport has IATA code CGK. The airport located near Cengkareng area side of Jakarta. That's why the airport has IATA code CGK
Look up YCV airport- It was in Cartierville Quebec, North of Montreal (now we would just say it’s in Montreal). It was the Canadair then Bombardier plant, but I believe it was Canada’s oldest airport when it was decommissioned in 1988. It was such a cool little airport, but as traffic at YUL increased (and probably more so as International passenger flights stopped using YMX) YCV was directly in front of YUL so they couldn’t even keep it for flight schools. It’s a housing development now. Kinda sad. But the bend in the road that had to be built around the runway- where traffic had to be stopped when a plane was landing- is a reminder. And as a tribute to Neil Peart and Rush, YYZ should never be changed!!
Here are some many interesting Canadian airport codes. By the way, the last one is rather unusual and I will explain. Thunder Bay YQT, St. John's YYT, Winnipeg YWG and Iqaluit, Nunavut YFB. Iqaluit's code makes sense because the name for the city was Frobisher Bay from 1942 to 1987 and the traditional Inuit name was restored in 1987. The airport code didn't change, however.
Oh my goodness! Yakima, WA was mentioned in the video! Sorry, got a little too excited to see my crummy town mentioned without any mention of corruption, crime, or general awfulness.
The photo of the Trans-Canada Air Lines Canadair DC-4M North Star at 3:09 is unrelated to the subject of the video. That photo was taken at Prestwick airport in Scotland (IATA PIK, ICAO EGPK).
Canada has a very large number of airports, 1467 according to Siri - thanks in no small part due to the arctic region where the only way in or out of those communities for the majority of the year is by air, it makes sense to give us a large number of possible combinations...
Interestingly in the Canadian weather service 3 letter codes were used to identify various locations providing weather data. The initial letter "Y" was used almost entirely for airports, while W and X would indicate anything else. For example YHZ (Halifax) airport had a weather radar on the field designated as WHZ. Ironically, for years most sites that were only a weather station were assigned a 3 letter code that started with a "W", which in the aviation convention was used for "without weather station". As in aviation, codes now are officially prepended with "C" (CWKR) to make a 4 letter ID, or even "CA" for 5 letter codes. (Sorry California, we got there first!)
I think it would have been informative to explain the difference between the 4-letter ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) codes for airports and the 3-letter IATA (International Air Transport Association) codes. This video only describes the IATA codes, which are not official for flight planning purposes and are sometimes quite different from the official ICAO codes. For example London Heathrow may be "LHR" to a travel agent but it is officially identified as "EGLL" to pilots and air traffic controllers.
Nobody: Absolutely Nobody: Literally not a single soul: RUclips: You NEED to to know why Canadian airports start with Y. Me:............. Actually 🤔......yes I do.....Y not?
The Canadian & US are the only countries where CAO 3-letter codes are also the basis for the Air Traffic, SITA 4-letter codes. eg. In Canada the Y is prefixed with a C (YUL becomes CYUL) and in the States the 3-letter code is prefixed with a K (EWR becomes KEWR). However for the rest of the world, knowing one doesn't mean you know the other eg: London Heathrow & Gatwick are LHR & LGW (as you said) but are EGLL & EGKK to air traffic control.
Actually they all start with the letter C followed by a 3 other letters or numbers or combination of both. Big cities like you mention are CYYC CYYZ CYUL and CYVR, but smaller cities with airports use a 4 letter and number combination starting with C. For example Drumheller airport in Alberta is CEG4. CYYC = Calgary Internation Airport YYC= Calgary VOR YC= Calgary NDB
New Orleans's Airport, The Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (in Kenner), has the code MSY. Because the property used to be the Moisant Stock Yard, which is near the place where legendary aviator John Moisant died. So its named after the field named after the place where an aviator died, sounds ripe for good luck. The older and smaller Lakefront Airport has the code NEW for New Orleans
@@jmwloup5110 In ICAO, yes, but the tickets usually only show the three letter IATA code, or the FAA code which is also only 3 letters. But you are correct that that is one of the possible codes
No, it is not too much of a break, it makes Canada unique. Radio beacons for aircraft navigation seem to use 4 letter codes. If the beacon is at an airport the beacon´s last three letters are the 3-letter code of the airport or used to be 25 years ago. Most Canadians do not seem to know about the Y. Thank you for the video.
02:12 how was the number of combinations calculated? A 2 letter combination of a 26 letter alphabet would then give a total of 325 combinations and not 676? I must be missing something, just curious as to how it was calculated.
Why is O'hare listed as ORD and not OHR which looks more like "O'hare" than ORD? Answer: When Chicago's airport was first built, it was on ground where an apple orchard was. The Original name was "Orchard Field" hence the ORD code for Chicago. Then in WW2, a Navy pilot, Lt. O'hare, an ace himself was sadly shot down and died. He was from Chicago. So the airport was renamed for him as a memorial. The FAA never changed the code for the airport, maybe thinking it would be too confusing. I think it would have been better if they did because by now, 75 years later, we would be used to it. But as anyone who travels to or through Chicago knows, ORD is Chicago O'hare Airport. Now you know why. Stay Safe. We'll get to fly again...someday.
YTO is the IATA metropolitan area code for Toronto, not an airport code, equivalent of YMQ for Montreal, LON for London, PAR for Paris, TYO for Tokyo, NYC for New York, BUE for Buenos Aires, among others, usually cities with more than one airport .
For pilots we don’t call the airports for example, YYZ we us CYYZ so all Canadian Airports start with C. Also London Heathrow is EGLL not LHR for pilots and atc.
You’re right, but the IATA code is what you could find on e.g. boarding passes, so the general public who are also in the audience may have asked themselves why the Y ;)
I live in Edmonton; we use #YEG as a shorthand to refer to our city's name (especially on social media), and we pronounce it as a word "yeg" (rhymes with egg) instead of saying Y-E-G. Just curious what other cities tend to do this in Canada and internationally. (Side note, it's somewhat ironic because our airport isn't actually in the city itself)
Halifax is YHZ... but I don’t think we use it much outside the context of the airport. We more often use our area code, 902, for a provincial identity, which is weird because PEI has the same area code.
Thanks for the video! I read the ALPA (Air Line Pilots Association) article when it was published, maybe 20 years ago. It was very thorough and informative. I tried to find it but couldn't. Perhaps someone could find it and share the link. Cheers
I love the uniqueness of Canadian airport codes. I mean, Rush's famous track, "YYZ" wouldn't have come about had it not been for the code. Another non-Canadian airport code that begins with Y is YAK (Yakutat Airport in Yakutat, Alaska). Curiously though, its ICAO code doesn't start with a "K" like the majority of American airports use (Yakutat's is "PAYA").
I work for a Canadian company with nationwide presence and we always refer to other offices by their city's airport codes. Like: "are we meeting with YVR"??? "Is YYZ aware of this change"?? "I do not know about that contract, ask YHZ"........ 😄😄
my home airport is YYZ (the largest airport available in Canada and the only airport to use multiple terminals) the others should build more terminals to hold more arrivals and departures
a lot of cities here in canada also go by our airport codes as a kind of short hand, so i might use the hastag YEGfoods instead of Edmontonfoods for example, but im not totaly sure why since yyc is not quite as catchy as calgary
Mahesh. Kapanaiah SHREYAS off1 the ICAO codes are geographic, the K refers to the USA, E refers to Northern Europe, S refers to South America etc. The second letter often breaks those regions down by country or other region, for example the UK starts with EG, however the contiguous US (and Canada and some of Mexico) decided to keep the last 3 digits the same as the IATA codes to reduce confusion.
Buenos Aires, Argentina EZE & AEP AEP stands for AEroParque or AEroPuerto... Airport in English 🙂 I would say, the , most clever airport code in the world.
I thought the few US cities that have an X at the end meant it had the word international in its name. For example, LAX = Los Angeles International Airport, PHX = Phoenix International Airport, PDX = Portland International Airport.
O'Hare airport in Chicago uses ORD. Which stands for "orchard". The airport was originally named Orchard field. It was renamed after a World War II pilot.
That's the ICAO code used for operational purposes (air traffic control etc.) The IATA code (3 letters) is used for reservations/ticketing/baggage checking purposes.
@@TheSjuris P is US Territory (Pacific) A is Alaska, which is why most of the ICAO codes for Alaskan Airports start with PA, there is also PF, PO and PP for Alaska, not exactly sure on the breakup. But you also have PH (Pacific, Hawaii), PT (Pacific, Truk Atoll... aka Micronesia), PW (Pacific, Wake), PM (Pacific, Midway), PL (Pacific, Line Islands.... aka Kiribati), PK (Pacific, Marshall Islands... I don't know exactly why the K possibly because Midway was first, so they picked K for Krusenstern, the man that actually named the islands), PJ (Pacific, Johnston Atoll), PC (Pacific, Kiribati... after Canton Field) and PB (Pacific, Baker Island).
As someone from Calgary we actually use YYC all the time to reference the city.
Same here. Look up #YYJ and #YYJTraffic on Twitter for news from my hometown.
Same here for Toronto, YYZ (or the 6ix but noone ik does it tho haha)
yvr here. or 604
This has become common/trendy in many places. For instance I have seen Portland referred to (in a non-aviation context) as PDX.
Kiwi here. Aucklanders do this, AKL
I mean, Y not?
Bahhh I came here to say the same. 😅
Beat me by 2 weeks 💀
Yeah tell me Y
@@marcox2937 I sang that in my head🤣
clap clap
As mentioned, not all airports in Canada with IATA codes begin with Y. There are some exceptions. A few that come to mind are Bathurst, New Brunswick (ZBF), Bella Bella, British Columbia (ZEL), Bella Coola, British Columbia (QBC). And the ICAO code isn't always the IATA code with a C added in front. For example, the ICAO code for Bella Bella, BC is CBBC (not CZEL) and the ICAO code for Bella Coola is CYBD (not CQBC). And the IATA code for Boundary Bay, BC near Vancouver is YDT but the ICAO code is CZBB. IATA also sometimes assigns codes for metropolitan areas that are not airport codes. They are often cities with more than one airport. A few examples: NYC (New York City), CHI (Chicago), WAS (Washington), LON (London), PAR (Paris), ROM (Rome), BUE (Buenos Aires), RIO (Rio de Janeiro), YTO (Toronto), YMQ (Montreal). YEA (Edmonton), TYO (Tokyo).
My home airport is YKA. The full ICAO code is CYKA. Yes, I know what it means in Russian. :-)
What does it means....tell me I still don't know...
@@faisalhashim2711 he means this-сука, i would not wnat to show the meaning over here cuz it is quite offensive
Faisal Hashim in primary school fashion - The ‘B’ word
Blyatiful!
Art Man Yes
Cyka Blyat!
C - Designates a Canadian airport.
Y - Stands for...
- The airport has a weather observation station so an arriving or departing aircraft can obtain the current weather sequences.
- The airport has a navigational aid to find the airport and make a published instrument approach for landing, or takeoff.
- The last two letters denotes the airport has a communication facility (teletype, telephone, radio, etc) so that when an aircraft lands the crew can advise ATC they are on the ground safely. And / Or, a departing aircraft can phone ATC prior to takeoff to pass their proposed departure time, or a radio to call ATC when the aircraft has taken off so ATC can start tracking the aircraft enroute.
- The last two letters were chosen at random to identify the airport. eg; CYYC and CYVR. In Canada the last two letters of the airport “YC” and “VR” was transmitted in morse-code over the navigational radio frequency at the airport so when the pilot tuned in they could identify the airport, as the airport they were to use. (or not use).
This radio navigational aid was named, “Radio Range” (abbreviation RR).
The Radio Range transmitted the letter “A” and the letter “N”, which when intersected formed 4 on-course signals that formed the airway the aircraft was to follow.
Why do I know this? I am an Octogenarian. I was an Air Traffic Controller back in those days. I was also a part time Commercial Pilot that was a Flight Instructor that taught and flew the RR, which in those days was the only means of air navigation from takeoff to landing.
Oh, I should also mention, we also had the "Non Directional Beacon," but thats another story.
I am going to have to quit here. There is a lot more to it and I’m getting tired of typing.
My book are short factual stories that happened during my aviation carrier in ATC and while Flying. My book Tower Tales... sites.google.com/view/jimhallsphotosite/towertales
Wow thanks for the detailed explanation
Many thanks for this wonderful explanation!
@@Ayzlxn I'm pleased you enjoyed it.
@Scientific Humanist Looks like you enjoyed the answer.
@@RohanSJ A little long but I tried to be thorough :-)
I served 20 years in airline business and always wondered the reason for this. Now I know, thanks.
OK so that explains the "Y" at the beginning of each Canadian airport 3 letter code. However, the remaining 2 letters still don't seem to make sense or seem to be connected to their respective cities for most of the rest (other than VR for Vancouver which makes sense). YZ for Toronto...huh? YJ for Victoria...what? UL for Montreal....why? For YC for Calgary, only the C makes some sense. Which brings me to another pattern. Many (but not all) Canadian airport 3 letter codes have "Y" as the second letter. Is there a story behind that? :-) Great video!....I am from YYZ and this has puzzled me for many years!
"As for the the 'YZ' part, that dates all the way back to the Morse Code railway stations along the Canadian National Railway, which had two-letter identifiers. The code for the station in Malton, Ontario, was YZ, which is where Pearson sits today-hence YYZ. " - from www.blogto.com/city/2019/04/why-torontos-airport-code-yyz/
UL was a weather station for Montreal. When the weather station moved to the airport so did the call sign YUL
Why is there YMQ though for the same airport
@@solweiser YMQ covers Montreal airports YUL, YMX (Mirabel), and YHU (St-Hubert). Another example is YTO which covers five Toronto-area airports.
Rohan Jayasekera there is only 1 passenger airport. Mirabel stopped passenger service in 2000. It is only for cargo
@@solweiser But it is still a functional airport.
Four letter ICAO codes for Canada all start with "C". In the Lower 48, they all start with "K". Alaska starts with PA, so the three letter code is different from the four letter ICAO unless the three letter starts with an "A". "P" is for Pacific, "A" is for Alaska. The last two letters narrow it down to the specific airport. Many people assume PANC is the Anchorage International (ANC) identifier with a "P" in front of it, but that's not the case. The "NC" is what pinpoints it as Anchorage International, as the "A" stands for Alaska. My airport identifier is IYS, but the ICOA identifier is PAWS. The same goes for Hawaii. The "P" is for Pacific and the "H" is for Hawaii. The last two letters narrow it down to the specific Hawaii airport.
Using ICAO codes, Y is the designator of airports that are situated in Australia.
YMML- Melbourne
YSSY- Sydney
YBBN- Brisbane
Using ICAO codes Canada's airports still use the same identifier but with "C" in front of it. So pretty much all of them just turn into "CY__".
While Canada does use ICAO we just use the three letter code for shorthand most of the time since everything starts with "C" anyways
@@skyforce3580 yeah same here in Australia, we will only use 2 or 3 letters mostly
0:48 "But before we get to explaining Y"
OH GOD NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
In any case it was informative. Thanks for an interesting story!
You answered a question that wasn't even a question in my mind.
When Montreal's airport was renamed Pierre Elliot Trudeau International Airport, there were discussion as to whether the airport code should be changed to PET or MTL. However, both were already in use, so the request was never presented to the IATA.
The irony there is that the airport is now named after someone who spent a considerable portion of his career campaigning to have it closed so that travelers could experience the joy of visiting Mirabel airport instead.
The departure procedure that flight crews follow from YUL used to be known as the TRUDEAU 2 departure, however when his son became PM it was swiftly changed to the MONTREAL 1 departure, presumably so that it didn’t look like some kind of political endorsement.
Pet in French is fart... I don't think you want that...
Us Torontotarians love YYZ, we even got a song named after it! Best airport code ever.
I never bothered to look up what that Rush's song title stood for, so it was a surprise the time I flew into Toronto that I realized what the song was named for.
@@londubh2007 Same lol
I don't know, that YUM might give your airport code a run for it's money. I personally love our YVR. Maybe in the future, Vancouver will really put the VR into YVR.
I used YYZ to get to Toronto to see Rush on the R40 tour for both Toronto gigs and also the Montreal one. Later I re-wrote the opening bars of YYZ to be morse code for YUL instead of YYZ, to see what Rush being from Montreal would have sounded like. Um, it wasn't as good...
I’ve never heard the explanation you gave. As a Canadian pilot I learned that Canadian airports were named after their radio station and that is why they have nondescript identifiers that often have no letters associated with their location. Like YYZ for instance for Toronto - which is actually an abbreviation of its full form which is CYYZ for the radio station CYYZ. Though some have letters which make it a bit easier to identify them like YVR for Vancouver or YKF for Kitchener.
Was not expecting seeing the city I live in on this video 😂 Yakima represent!
Even I for sure 😀😀😀
But you broke the pattern! Prepare to be annexed.
Everett is watching you.
Even though I moved to Germany, I'll make sure my old hometown keeps its eye on Yakima.
Canada’s airport codes all star with a C and are 4 digits not three afterwards Y and Z are prevalent as a second digit but you will find airports like the Vulcan municipal CFX6, the High River Airport which is CEN4 and, the Cold Lake Regional Airport which is CEN5 Which don’t use either. Three digit codes such as YQL Lethbridge and YYC Calgary refer to the VOR Station and, the airports are CYQL and CYYC respectively. Sincerely a TC Commercial Pilot.
Hey Rocketry, we were talking about that IATA codes, not the ICAO codes. I'm sure as a commercial pilot you're aware of the difference between the two :) - TB
I like that Canada uses the Y in their airport code. The Toronto based band Rush wrote a song based on the Morse code for the VHF Morse broadcasted from the Toronto Pearson Airport (YYZ). For them seeing YYZ on their luggage meant they were going home.
-.-- -.-- --..
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to a new episode of "Y is This in My Recommended Videos".
Our code for Turnbull Field in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada is YSJ, and named Turnbull for the inventor of the electric variable pitch propeller, Wallace R. Turnbull.
Until today I assumed it worked on a system like radio station callsigns, where countries had a dedicated prefix, and that Canada's was "Y". I definitely learned something today!
The YUL code for Montreal comes from the 2 letter code (UL) used to identify the non directional radio beacon (NDB) that was in use at Dorval airport when it was created. These 2 letters were transmitted by Morse Code on a continuous basis by the NDB.
If you’re an aviation geek, this is most likely the most useful video of the year 😂 I’ve always questioned myself why with the Y... but this is the reason! Thx!
Thanks for the feedback. - TB
I’ve always been curious about this, thank you for explaining this!
Glad you were able to learn something! -JS
Thank you for explaining this. I never did know the reason for this. As a child, who flew overseas to visit relatives, AMS, FRA and DUS will self-explanatory; our system remained a mystery.
I am Canadian, and, did work for Lufthansa in its Toronto office for a brief time in the late 1980s. I did know that most, but not all, national airports were referenced by 3-letter codes, beginning with "Y". One exception is Bathurst, New Brunswick (ZBF).
Great video. I worked for airlines over 30 years and never knew this. Thanks.
Awesome knowledge I am working with aviation industry for past 24 years. Thanks for the knowledge
Thanks for the feedback. - TB
I’ve lived in Canada all my life (YEG & YYJ) and didn’t know this. THANKS!
If you know the weather here it makes sense why all airports had weather stations. My hometown is YOW with our regionals in the area being YRP, YRO and actually one that throws the convention CNP3
I remember back in the day when Aeroplan had a glitch in their system, and considered all airport codes begin with Y to be within Canada. We were able to book tickets to Yantai, China (YNT), skip the second leg, and only be charged the miles required for a domestic flight.
Always wondered this ever since I visited, but I also worked in international pet transport for a few months, so was using the airport codes on a daily basis!
finally i've been waiting for this video all my life!
I worked in aviation for 14 years and just learned something new!
That's amazing! We're glad that you learned something new! -JS
When I was hired by the national airline in Canada we were advised that the codes were developed to prevent the enemies of the allies from knowing where various airports were located across the country . This explains the development and the use of y. Many were training airports and were "camouflaged " in this way . In the post war era the D.O.T decided not to change the existing codes
I'm next to YQB Quebec City, and the famous canadian group Rush near Toronto YYZ airport thus yhe name of the drum solo YYZ. Very informative thank you
Always wondered that! Thanks!
Fascinating! I have worked in the US airline industry for 37 years and have never known the reason "Y".
Loving the pun ;) - TB
Never wondered this until it showed up in my feed. But now I feel so great knowing the history.
I always wondered about that, being from Winnipeg (YWG). Thank you!
In my country Indonesia, the largest airport is Jakarta - Soekarno Hatta International Airport has IATA code CGK. The airport located near Cengkareng area side of Jakarta. That's why the airport has IATA code CGK
Look up YCV airport- It was in Cartierville Quebec, North of Montreal (now we would just say it’s in Montreal). It was the Canadair then Bombardier plant, but I believe it was Canada’s oldest airport when it was decommissioned in 1988. It was such a cool little airport, but as traffic at YUL increased (and probably more so as International passenger flights stopped using YMX) YCV was directly in front of YUL so they couldn’t even keep it for flight schools. It’s a housing development now. Kinda sad. But the bend in the road that had to be built around the runway- where traffic had to be stopped when a plane was landing- is a reminder. And as a tribute to Neil Peart and Rush, YYZ should never be changed!!
learning something new every day!!!
Your vids are always interesting....thanks
Here are some many interesting Canadian airport codes. By the way, the last one is rather unusual and I will explain. Thunder Bay YQT, St. John's YYT, Winnipeg YWG and Iqaluit, Nunavut YFB. Iqaluit's code makes sense because the name for the city was Frobisher Bay from 1942 to 1987 and the traditional Inuit name was restored in 1987. The airport code didn't change, however.
Oh my goodness! Yakima, WA was mentioned in the video!
Sorry, got a little too excited to see my crummy town mentioned without any mention of corruption, crime, or general awfulness.
The photo of the Trans-Canada Air Lines Canadair DC-4M North Star at 3:09 is unrelated to the subject of the video. That photo was taken at Prestwick airport in Scotland (IATA PIK, ICAO EGPK).
i find this very unusual and different compared to other airports of the world
Canada has a very large number of airports, 1467 according to Siri - thanks in no small part due to the arctic region where the only way in or out of those communities for the majority of the year is by air, it makes sense to give us a large number of possible combinations...
underrated country
I was thinking about this an hour ago. This just popped in my feed.
My former home airports was the now defunct CYXD and CYEG nowadays it's CYQM and the rearely used CCG4.
Love the shot of the Lancastrian at 1:55 and the Dragon Rapide at 2:37!
Living in Vancouver, every time I travel to the airport, I would try to solve what Y stood for. I always thought it was something like “Your”
Interestingly in the Canadian weather service 3 letter codes were used to identify various locations providing weather data. The initial letter "Y" was used almost entirely for airports, while W and X would indicate anything else. For example YHZ (Halifax) airport had a weather radar on the field designated as WHZ. Ironically, for years most sites that were only a weather station were assigned a 3 letter code that started with a "W", which in the aviation convention was used for "without weather station". As in aviation, codes now are officially prepended with "C" (CWKR) to make a 4 letter ID, or even "CA" for 5 letter codes. (Sorry California, we got there first!)
Thank you fpr the explanation! This American had wondered Y.
Haha! You are welcome -JS
IATA also is headquartered in Canada
I think it would have been informative to explain the difference between the 4-letter ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) codes for airports and the 3-letter IATA (International Air Transport Association) codes. This video only describes the IATA codes, which are not official for flight planning purposes and are sometimes quite different from the official ICAO codes. For example London Heathrow may be "LHR" to a travel agent but it is officially identified as "EGLL" to pilots and air traffic controllers.
Nobody:
Absolutely Nobody:
Literally not a single soul:
RUclips: You NEED to to know why Canadian airports start with Y.
Me:............. Actually 🤔......yes I do.....Y not?
I wondered this, until I searched and found out myself. Then many years later, I found this video 🤗
The airport in PEI has an tower that is unnamed....plains land with visual guidance, lights on runway and the Halifax NS tower
Good information
Many txs. Being Canadian, I always wondered why my home airport was YYZ and not say TOR.
The Canadian & US are the only countries where CAO 3-letter codes are also the basis for the Air Traffic, SITA 4-letter codes. eg. In Canada the Y is prefixed with a C (YUL becomes CYUL) and in the States the 3-letter code is prefixed with a K (EWR becomes KEWR). However for the rest of the world, knowing one doesn't mean you know the other eg: London Heathrow & Gatwick are LHR & LGW (as you said) but are EGLL & EGKK to air traffic control.
I like the Vancouver graphic at the end
Must be for Intl airports mainly. The one I used to rent Cessna's from is called CZBA but it is a small aerodrome
The video referred to IATA codes, which Burlington doesn't have. - TB
Fun fact, Canadian airports usually are just Y in front of the old Railway code for that city, which used two letter codes.
Actually they all start with the letter C followed by a 3 other letters or numbers or combination of both. Big cities like you mention are CYYC CYYZ CYUL and CYVR, but smaller cities with airports use a 4 letter and number combination starting with C. For example Drumheller airport in Alberta is CEG4.
CYYC = Calgary Internation Airport
YYC= Calgary VOR
YC= Calgary NDB
I’m From Edmonton and we use YEG a lot to refer to our city
Watching this in quarantine makes me miss flying :(
Hopefully you'll get to go again soon! - TB
Lovely little story!
Thanks for this info from YLW.
New Orleans's Airport, The Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (in Kenner), has the code MSY. Because the property used to be the Moisant Stock Yard, which is near the place where legendary aviator John Moisant died. So its named after the field named after the place where an aviator died, sounds ripe for good luck.
The older and smaller Lakefront Airport has the code NEW for New Orleans
Technically KMSY since its a major airport
@@jmwloup5110 In ICAO, yes, but the tickets usually only show the three letter IATA code, or the FAA code which is also only 3 letters. But you are correct that that is one of the possible codes
No, it is not too much of a break, it makes Canada unique. Radio beacons for aircraft navigation seem to use 4 letter codes. If the beacon is at an airport the beacon´s last three letters are the 3-letter code of the airport or used to be 25 years ago. Most Canadians do not seem to know about the Y. Thank you for the video.
02:12 how was the number of combinations calculated? A 2 letter combination of a 26 letter alphabet would then give a total of 325 combinations and not 676? I must be missing something, just curious as to how it was calculated.
26 x 26 = 676
@@JL-ep9ot Duh! Thanks! I think I was including repetitions.
Why is O'hare listed as ORD and not OHR which looks more like "O'hare" than ORD?
Answer: When Chicago's airport was first built, it was on ground where an apple orchard was. The Original name was "Orchard Field" hence the ORD code for Chicago. Then in WW2, a Navy pilot, Lt. O'hare, an ace himself was sadly shot down and died. He was from Chicago. So the airport was renamed for him as a memorial. The FAA never changed the code for the airport, maybe thinking it would be too confusing. I think it would have been better if they did because by now, 75 years later, we would be used to it. But as anyone who travels to or through Chicago knows, ORD is Chicago O'hare Airport. Now you know why. Stay Safe. We'll get to fly again...someday.
Very much informative
I always wonder why Canada's Airports never used letters that clearly reference the city it serves of the actual Airport names.
Ok the Y I understand now, but YZ for Toronto Pearson? Why not YTO or YTP?
Exactly! Also, YUL, YYJ and others.
YTO is the IATA metropolitan area code for Toronto, not an airport code, equivalent of YMQ for Montreal, LON for London, PAR for Paris, TYO for Tokyo, NYC for New York, BUE for Buenos Aires, among others, usually cities with more than one airport
.
I like information like this.
For pilots we don’t call the airports for example, YYZ we us CYYZ so all Canadian Airports start with C. Also London Heathrow is EGLL not LHR for pilots and atc.
You’re right, but the IATA code is what you could find on e.g. boarding passes, so the general public who are also in the audience may have asked themselves why the Y ;)
I live in Edmonton; we use #YEG as a shorthand to refer to our city's name (especially on social media), and we pronounce it as a word "yeg" (rhymes with egg) instead of saying Y-E-G. Just curious what other cities tend to do this in Canada and internationally.
(Side note, it's somewhat ironic because our airport isn't actually in the city itself)
Good ol' Leduc County International Airport lol
Here in Toronto occasionally we also refer it as YYZ
Yeah, that is pretty common. Even in smaller cities like where I live. The hashtag #ykastrong is big here.
Being very old school - I recall a time when Edmonton was referred to as YXD ;)
Halifax is YHZ... but I don’t think we use it much outside the context of the airport. We more often use our area code, 902, for a provincial identity, which is weird because PEI has the same area code.
Thx for the info, it really confused me when looking at Flightradar24
Australian airports now have four letter codes beginning with Y eg YSSY, YBBN, YARM
IATA-Codes (3-Letter) are not the same as IACO-Codes (4-Letter). They are both needed.
Thanks for the video! I read the ALPA (Air Line Pilots Association) article when it was published, maybe 20 years ago. It was very thorough and informative. I tried to find it but couldn't. Perhaps someone could find it and share the link. Cheers
Thanks for the feedback! -JS
I love the uniqueness of Canadian airport codes. I mean, Rush's famous track, "YYZ" wouldn't have come about had it not been for the code.
Another non-Canadian airport code that begins with Y is YAK (Yakutat Airport in Yakutat, Alaska). Curiously though, its ICAO code doesn't start with a "K" like the majority of American airports use (Yakutat's is "PAYA").
Because is in Alaska that use the code PA. The code K is for the Continental United States
@@Kevingenender2 I guess the same could be applied to Puerto Rico, for instance. San Juan's ICAO code starts with a T because PR is a US territory.
@@Gameflyer001 P is for Pacific territories of the US and T is for the Eastern and Southern parts of the Caribbean
I am surprised that you mentioned TPE, the airport of my home country, as an example.
I work for a Canadian company with nationwide presence and we always refer to other offices by their city's airport codes. Like: "are we meeting with YVR"??? "Is YYZ aware of this change"?? "I do not know about that contract, ask YHZ"........ 😄😄
my home airport is YYZ (the largest airport available in Canada and the only airport to use multiple terminals)
the others should build more terminals to hold more arrivals and departures
YVR had two terminals that are fused together.
a lot of cities here in canada also go by our airport codes as a kind of short hand, so i might use the hastag YEGfoods instead of Edmontonfoods for example, but im not totaly sure why since yyc is not quite as catchy as calgary
I think YYC is more catchy than YEG
@@Lafv we just pronounce yeg like egg with a y but you can't really do that with yyc
Aaron Gordy that’s true
Why do US's airport ICAO codes begin with the letter K and continue with the same respective IATA code (like IATA: SFO ; ICAO: KSFO) ??
Mahesh. Kapanaiah SHREYAS off1 the ICAO codes are geographic, the K refers to the USA, E refers to Northern Europe, S refers to South America etc. The second letter often breaks those regions down by country or other region, for example the UK starts with EG, however the contiguous US (and Canada and some of Mexico) decided to keep the last 3 digits the same as the IATA codes to reduce confusion.
Next Canadian airport to open should have the code YES! That'd be awesome!
Thanks for the video. Now I know.
Buenos Aires, Argentina EZE & AEP
AEP stands for AEroParque or AEroPuerto... Airport in English 🙂 I would say, the , most clever airport code in the world.
EZE is the international Terminal, however AEP is the busiest airport in Argentina.
@@jorgeh1680 And much more convenient!
I thought the few US cities that have an X at the end meant it had the word international in its name. For example, LAX = Los Angeles International Airport, PHX = Phoenix International Airport, PDX = Portland International Airport.
Regina is YQR & Saskatoon is YXE... :-)
O'Hare airport in Chicago uses ORD. Which stands for "orchard". The airport was originally named Orchard field. It was renamed after a World War II pilot.
Does this still apply to aircraft registration coz for Kenyan registered aircrafts they start with 5H, Tanzania 5Y. Does this apply here?
I live right in behind YCD on Vancouver Island
It always starts with a c for Canada like cyyz cyvr
That's the ICAO code used for operational purposes (air traffic control etc.) The IATA code (3 letters) is used for reservations/ticketing/baggage checking purposes.
@@viscount757 icao code begins with c for all canadian airports, k for all us airports, and y for all australian airports
thomas grabkowski Alaska is P not K
@@TheSjuris P is US Territory (Pacific) A is Alaska, which is why most of the ICAO codes for Alaskan Airports start with PA, there is also PF, PO and PP for Alaska, not exactly sure on the breakup.
But you also have PH (Pacific, Hawaii), PT (Pacific, Truk Atoll... aka Micronesia), PW (Pacific, Wake), PM (Pacific, Midway), PL (Pacific, Line Islands.... aka Kiribati), PK (Pacific, Marshall Islands... I don't know exactly why the K possibly because Midway was first, so they picked K for Krusenstern, the man that actually named the islands), PJ (Pacific, Johnston Atoll), PC (Pacific, Kiribati... after Canton Field) and PB (Pacific, Baker Island).
SJO is San Jose, Costa Rica.
If they had a weather station the put a Y for yes, if they didn't have one, they put a W for no :)
You could have saved me from watching 4 minutes of fluff :)
I find it funny that the main airport for Los Angeles is more known by its IATA code than the name of the city it serves.
That’s because the Los Angeles area has multiple commercial airports. Burbank, LAX, John Wayne, Long Beach, and Ontario.