Editing ICAO airport code (section)

== ICAO codes versus IATA codes ==
ICAO codes are separate and different from [[IATA airport code|IATA codes]], the latter of which have three letters and are generally used for [[airline timetable]]s, reservations, and [[baggage]] tags. For example, the IATA code for [[London]]'s [[London Heathrow Airport|Heathrow Airport]] is LHR and its ICAO code is EGLL. IATA codes are used by [[tracking (commercial airline flight)|flight-tracking]] services such as [[FlightAware]].

In general IATA codes are usually derived from the name of the airport or the city it serves, while ICAO codes are distributed by region and country. Far more [[aerodrome]]s (in the broad sense) have ICAO codes than IATA codes, which are sometimes assigned to [[Train station|railway stations]] as well. The selection of ICAO codes is partly delegated to authorities in each country, while IATA codes, which have no geographic structure, must be decided centrally by IATA.