An airport code is a short code used to identify an airport. Travellers commonly see airport codes when booking flights, checking flight status, reading boarding passes, looking at baggage tags, and viewing airport information.
For example, DEL identifies Delhi Airport, BOM identifies Mumbai Airport, LKO identifies Lucknow Airport, KNU identifies Kanpur Airport, and BBI identifies Bhubaneswar Airport.
Airport Code Explained
There are two main types of airport codes travellers may come across:
1. IATA Code — International Air Transport Association
An IATA code is usually a three-letter code used to identify airports for passenger travel.
IATA codes are particularly important for passengers because they are commonly used when booking flights and are displayed on tickets and boarding passes, as shown in the example below.
2. ICAO Code — International Civil Aviation Organization
An ICAO code is a four-letter code mainly used for aviation operations, flight planning and air traffic purposes.
For most passengers, the IATA code is more important because it is the code they are most likely to see when booking and travelling.
| Airport | IATA | ICAO |
|---|---|---|
| Delhi Airport | DEL | VIDP |
| Mumbai Airport | BOM | VABB |
| Bengaluru Airport | BLR | VOBL |
| Lucknow Airport | LKO | VILK |
Explore our complete airports directory.
What Should Travellers Know?
- IATA codes usually have three letters.
- ICAO codes have four letters.
- IATA codes are commonly used in flight bookings, tickets and boarding passes.
- Check the airport code before travelling, especially when a city has more than one airport. For example, GOA has two airports, one has IATA code GOI & another GOX.
- Airport codes are not always obvious from the city or airport name. For example, Mumbai uses BOM.
Example
The boarding pass shown below displays the airport codes:
LKO (T3) → BBI (T1)
Here:
- LKO = Lucknow Airport (IATA CODE)
- BBI = Bhubaneswar Airport (IATA CODE)
- T3 = Terminal 3
- T1 = Terminal 1
The airport codes help passengers quickly identify their departure and destination airports.
Another example is:
KNU → BBI
Here, KNU identifies Kanpur Airport and BBI identifies Bhubaneswar Airport.
Example of IATA airport codes shown on a boarding pass: LKO for Lucknow and BBI for Bhubaneswar.
Related Terms
Explore our complete airport glossary to learn more airport terms.
Related Airport Guides
- Delhi Airport (DEL)
- Mumbai Airport (BOM)
- Lucknow Airport (LKO)
- Goa Airports