Answer
Pete Ballantyne
Away back in the 1950s-60s there were a number of cities/towns in Canada with Z as the leading
letter. Powell River BC (ZPW) and Zeballos on the West Coast of Vancouver Island ZZO being two such
areas. While Powell River has an Airport, at one time it was a float plane base serviced by
scheduled flying boats of Queen Charlott Airlines. Zeballos was only a water base with QCA and
latter Pacific Western Airlines (PWA). My understanding was that the Z leading letter was only used
for water based facilities. Powell River is now known as YPW. Note that there are four cities in
the US with Y as the leading designation. All four names start with Y ie Yakima, WA (YKM). Also,
the last two letter of the designation are (were) the Moris Code signal transmitted by the local
directional radio beacon. ie the "BL beacon" at Campbell River (YBL).
Answer
Colin Elliott
I believe that the Y-designate codes are for radio transmitters from the trans-national service that
was originally set up. Hence YYZ, the code for the village of Malton, where the present day LB
Pearson international airport is. Canadian railroad stations tend to be coded, for GDS purposes
(reservation system), with a Z followed by a two-letter code. Newer "city" codes (YTO, YMQ, YEA)
were established to distinguish the city centre from the airport.
Answer
Dave Unger
I read on the web that Canada chose to use a leading Y designator, although I have not been able to
confirm this, nor do I know the reason Canada would have done this. At the very least I suppose it
uniquely identifies an airport as being in Canada.
Answer
Dave Liesse
The use of a leading Y for "most" Canadian airports is a convention of the IATA (International Air
Transport Association), which assigns the three-letter codes. The ICAO (International Civil
Aviation organization) assigns four-letter codes, of which the first one or two characters designate
a region of the world. In this case, CYxx is for Canada. Mainland US airports are all Kxxx, while
those in Hawaii are PHxx (Pacific/Hawaii), and so on. I think the IATA just strips the leading C,
for the most part, for the Canadian airports, but I'm not positive. Incidentally, there are only a
handful of Canadian airports for which the IATA code does not start with Y; most of these exceptions
start with Z, although at least one (Aklavik - LAK - if memory serves) is otherwise.
Answer
Dave Willows
The Y designator indicates that the airport has a weather station, and is the code for that station.
Answer
Vince Danz
I should probably check my sources first, but I'm gonna try my memory. I believe it has something do
with the way the Canadian Railroad use to designate its cities before air travel was started. It is
true most major Canadian airports start with "Y".
Answer
Chris Vincelli
YYZ would be a random code which is actually for Lester B Pearson Airport. YTO is actually
allocated for Toronto, in the same way that LON is allocated for London, UK. As there are 2 airports
in Toronto, the city code is broken down into airport codes, YYZ being the one for the Int'l airport
and YTZ for Toronto City airport. LON, is broken down into LHR and LGW, LCY etc, for London's
respective city airports."
Good point. YMQ is used for Montreal. M meaning Montreal and Q for Quebec. Y stands for Canada.
Every Canadian airport starts with "Y"!
Answer
Abe Leavitt
I noticed that you said YYZ was out of place for Toronto because most Canadian airports have airport
codes which reflect there city name. This is not true. Vancouver, BC is YVR and
Montreal is YUL. I
wonder if it is something to do with Y's?
Answer
Brad Oud
YYZ would be a random code which is actually for Lester B Pearson Airport. YTO is actually allocated
for Toronto, in the same way that LON is allocated for London, UK. As there are 2 airports in
Toronto, the city code is broken down into airport codes, YYZ being the one for the Int'l airport
and YTZ for Toronto City airport. LON, is broken down into LHR and LGW, LCY etc, for London's
respective city airports.
Answer
C Vincelli
How about Montreal-Dorval (YUL), Edmonton (YEG), Saskatoon (YXE),
London (YXU), Victoria (YYJ) and so on.
