5 Minutes With Aopa-china

Episode 61 Airport Codes Claire: Hello this is 5 Minutes withAOPA-China. Imagine you’re sitting in first class on an Air China Boeing 777,headed from Beijing CapitalInternational Airport to London Heathrow. Theboarding pass in your jacketpocket the check-in lady just handed to you says, ofcourse, PEK to LHR: the familiar three-letter codes that every frequent flyer knows. Nick: But just a few feet ahead of you, onthe flight deck, the flight plan in front of the captain’s eyes says yourdestination is EGLL(Echo Golf Lima Lima). And tomorrow, when the airplane you’re on willfly from London to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, that flight plan will say the destination is RJTT(RomeoJuliet Tango Tango), not HND(Hotel November Delta). And what about ZGGG(Zulu GolfGolf,Yankee Sierra Sierra Yankee), YSSY and MMMX? Claire: Those are the four-letter codesused by ICAO, the United Nations’ International Civil Aviation Organization, toidentify airports instead of the more common three-letter designations used byIATA,