Key:icao

The ICAO airport code on Wikipedia is used to uniquely identify aerodromes and heliports across the globe. Although it is not recognized by the public as much as the IATA airport code, the ICAO code is more widespread, and registers even heliports and small aerodromes.

The key icao=* has as its value a 4 letter code that should be put on the main area of the aerodrome or airport (the area or node with the tag aeroway=aerodrome). It can also be used with heliports (aeroway=heliport) or helipads not associated with a heliport (aeroway=helipad).

Although this code usually is not displayed on the map, it may be searched for using Nominatim, besides the possibility of being used by other tools.

Example

Los Angeles Airport:

• name=Los Angeles International Airport
• aeroway=aerodrome
• icao=KLAX
• iata=LAX

Hierarchy

The ICAO code is hierarchically organized in regions of the globe, and it changes its prefix accordingly. This kind of information can be used when doing automated quality assurance checks.

False sources

Be aware that there are sources on the www that provide incorrect icao-codes, very notoriously https://metar-taf.com/ A proper icao code always consists of four characters in the Latin [A-Z] sequence, nothing else.

Even so, Russia and some (previously and/or presently) associated authorities seem to assign codes that look like ICAO codes, where they are in fact local only. The Russian aerodrome codes are in the oficial document http://www.caiga.ru/DocAni/manual_of_4_letter_indexes/Indexes_of_Airports.pdf , only the third column ("International code") can be considered ICAO codes.

See also

• iata=* is the key used to indicate the IATA airport code. Whenever possible, add both codes to the aerodrome.
• ICAO airport code on Wikipedia
•  List of airports by ICAO code
• Interactive map showing ICAO codes and divisions on airports across the globe
• OurAirports - an open-data aviation web site