Airline Promotional Codes to identify an airline for all commercial purposes, including time-tables, tickets, tariffs…
Every airline has two unique identifying codes: a two-character alpha code (carrier code) and a three-character numeric code (airway bill prefix). The International Travel Authority (IATA) to each airline assigns these codes. The codes are standard and recognized throughout the aviation and related industries.Airline codes are required on export declarations, export major manifests, departure reports, impending arrival reports and other areas of the ICS.
Airline codes are used to identify an airline for all commercial purposes, including time-tables, reservations, tickets, tariffs, and airline interline communications.
Two policies are maintained by IATA to deal with the limited number of available codes:
- After an airline is delisted, the code becomes available for reuse after 6 months
- IATA issues controlled duplicates to regional airlines whose destinations are not likely to overlap, in such a way that the same code will be shared by two different airlines
ICAO Airline Designator Code
The ICAO airline designator is a code assigned by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to aircraft operating agencies, aeronautical authorities and services. These codes are unique by airline.
All airlines have their own codes. Some have internal codes that are only used by the employees of that particular airline, while others are universal codes used by all airlines and most airport employees.
Almost every official document you use has an official code. For instance, if you buy your tickets online to save money, the printout confirmation you bring to the airport will have the correct airline discount codes. If you are flying Delta, the ticket will have specific Delta airline discount codes. If you are flying United, your ticket will have airline discount codes from that company. If you fly Tycoon, you will have that airline’s codes, etc.
All airlines and airports have their own set of universal names and codes. Air traffic controllers know the names and codes of all the airlines. The option of using airline names and codes may seem chaotic and obscure to the outsider, but in fact this system keeps the airlines running smoothly.