MULTILINGUAL

FOREWORD

This document contains a list of ICAO four-letter location indicators and, for ease of reference, corresponding three-character International Air Transport Association (IATA) location identifier codes for geographical locations throughout the world. Also included is a list of addresses of centres in charge of flight information regions (FIRs) and/or upper flight information regions (UIRs).

LOCATION INDICATORS

Location indicators are assigned by States and are checked by ICAO for conformity with the “Formulation and assignment of location indicators” set out below.

Stability in location indicators assigned is important, hence changes should be made only after due consideration. This document is published quarterly as a service to international aviation. Any errors or omissions should be brought to the attention of the Secretary General of ICAO, 999 Robert-Bourassa Boulevard, Montréal, Quebec, Canada H3C 5H7.

The development of a system of location indicators arose from Recommendations 1.2/3, 1.2/4 and 1.2/5 of the Communications Division, Sixth Session (cf. Doc 7831), modified by Recommendation 3 of the Third Meeting and by Recommendation 3/1 of the Sixth Meeting of the ICAO Panel of Teletypewriter Specialists. These recommendations were approved by the Council at the 10th Meeting of its Thirty-second Session on 6 December 1957, at the 18th Meeting of its Thirty-fifth Session on 15 December 1958, and the 12th Meeting of its Fifty-seventh Session on 4 April 1966 respectively. The principles for the formulation and assignment of location indicators contained in these recommendations are given below.

DEFINITIONS

(Annex 10, Volume II)

Aeronautical fixed service (AFS) — A telecommunication service between specified fixed points provided primarily for the safety of air navigation and for the regular, efficient and economical operation of air services.

Aeronautical fixed station — A station in the aeronautical fixed service.

Aeronautical fixed telecommunication network (AFTN) — A worldwide system of aeronautical fixed circuits provided, as part of the aeronautical fixed service, for the exchange of messages and/or digital data between aeronautical fixed stations having the same or compatible communications characteristics.

ATS message handling system (AMHS) — The set of computing and communication resources implemented by ATS organizations to provide the ATS message handling service.

Location indicator — A four-letter code group formulated in accordance with rules prescribed by ICAO and assigned to the location of an aeronautical fixed station.

FORMULATION AND ASSIGNMENT OF LOCATION INDICATORS

Four-letter location indicators shall be formulated and assigned to identify those geographical locations at which there is situated a station forming part of the AFS.

Note.— Separate location indicators should not be assigned to different units at one geographical location when the appropriate use of three-letter designators will adequately cover the need.

ESTABLISHMENT OF AERONAUTICAL FIXED SERVICE (AFS) ROUTING AREAS

The world is divided into non-overlapping AFS routing areas, each of which is assigned a separate identifying letter. The areas so formed are shown on the chart that follows the Index.

The boundaries of these areas need not necessarily coincide with the boundaries of any State, territory or FIR but are decided solely from a consideration of the requirements of the AFS, so as to assist message traffic-routing processes to the maximum possible extent.

Each separate State or territory is assigned a separate identifying letter to permit differentiation between that State or territory and other States or territories in the same AFS routing area.

Separate identifying letters are assigned to parts of a State or territory where:

a) a separate State or territory is itself an AFS routing area, and

b) routing uncertainties can exist at stations feeding traffic into that State or territory, and

c) by so doing these routing uncertainties can be removed or alleviated.

No separate identifying letter is assigned where a separate State or territory contains only tributary stations.

Unallocated letters within each AFS routing area may be assigned as additional letters, by ICAO, at the request of a State having jurisdiction at location(s) within such area, in instances where additional assignment will facilitate the processes of message routing.

ASSIGNMENT OF LOCATION INDICATORS

Assignment of the first letter of a location indicator

The first letter of the location indicator shall be the letter assigned to the AFS routing area within which the location is situated, except that where the location is served only by a single communication centre situated in another AFS routing area, the first letter shall be that assigned to the area in which that communication centre is situated.

Note.— An AFS routing area can consist of a single State.

Assignment of the second letter of a location indicator

The second letter of the location indicator shall be the letter assigned to the State or territory (or portion thereof) within which the location is situated, except that where the location is served only by a single communication centre situated in another State or territory, the second letter shall be that assigned to the State or territory in which that communication centre is situated.

Assignment of the third letter of a location indicator

Where, in a State or territory, aeronautical fixed telecommunication stations are connected to a communication centre, the third letter of the location indicator should be so assigned as to assist in the process of routing to that communication centre.

Assignment of the fourth letter of a location indicator

In respect of the fourth letter, and in instances where assignment of the second and third letters is not prescribed under 1.3 and 1.5, the State concerned shall assign the letters as desired, except that those States assigned the identifying letter “N” in accordance with 2.2 should arrange their national allocation of specific four-letter location indicators so as to avoid the use of the combination “NN” for the third and fourth letters.

Note.— It is intended that “NNN” should not be used as the second, third and fourth letters of a location indicator.

Other assignments

In exceptional cases, geographical locations other than those served by the AFS may be given a location indicator at the discretion of the State having jurisdiction over the location concerned.

States that have introduced the predetermined distribution system¹ for AFTN or AMHS messages may assign for that purpose location indicators constituted as follows:

First and second letters — the first two letters of the location indicator for the AFTN/AMHS communication centre designated as the international terminal centre for the receiving State.

Third and fourth letters — the letters “ZZ” indicating a requirement for special distribution.

CHANGES IN THE ASSIGNMENT OF LOCATION INDICATORS

Location indicators once assigned should only be amended after paying due regard to the worldwide repercussions of such changes upon all users of the communication services.

A location indicator should not be reassigned to another location for a period of at least six months after cancellation of its previous assignment.

Changes in the assignment of location indicators should be promulgated by NOTAM or AIP as far in advance of the effective date as practicable.

USE OF LOCATION INDICATORS

Location indicators that are assigned to locations to which messages cannot be addressed over the AFTN should be identified by an asterisk (*).

A location indicator alone does not constitute an addressee indicator or an originator indicator in AFTN messages. The aeronautical authority, service, unit or aircraft operating agency originating the message, or to whom the message is addressed, should be identified by adding to the location indicator the appropriate ICAO three-letter designator, as listed in Doc 8585 — Designators for Aircraft Operating Agencies, Aeronautical Authorities and Services.

Identification of radio transmission

ICAO location indicators should not be used for the identification of radio transmissions in lieu of “call signs” which are prescribed for this purpose in Article 19 of the ITU Radio Regulations (Geneva, 1959).

ADDRESSES OF CENTRES IN CHARGE OF FIR/UIR

For the purpose of addressing ATS messages to ATS centres (FIC/ACC) in charge of FIR and/or UIR, a system of addressee indicators has been devised.

Such an addressee indicator consists of the location of the ATS centre in charge, plus one of the following four-letter designators:

ZQZX if the message is related to an IFR flight, or

ZFZX if the message is related to a VFR flight.

To assist in the correct addressing of the above-mentioned ATS messages, this section contains a list of FIR/UIR with the centres in charge of those regions and their respective location indicators.

IATA LOCATION IDENTIFIER CODES

The formulation and assignment of IATA location identifier codes are the responsibility of the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Inquiries regarding these codes should be directed to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Attention: Codes Administration, 800 Place Victoria, P.O. Box 113, Montréal, Quebec, Canada H4Z 1M1, Telephone: +1 514-874-0202 , Facsimile: +1 514-874- 9632, E-mail: [email protected].

EDITORIAL NOTE

This document consists of an Encode section (white pages) in which all place names are arranged alphabetically, and a Decode section (green pages) arranged alphabetically by location indicator. In addition, there is an Index (yellow pages) which shows the letters assigned to each State or territory, and a Glossary (white pages) which gives the equivalents in English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic and Chinese of the terms, expressions, administrative divisions, etc., which are used throughout the document.

All place names are spelled in accordance with the usage followed in the State concerned, except that where the name is not officially spelled by means of the Latin alphabet (e.g. Arabic, Chinese) it has been transliterated into its equivalent in the Latin alphabet. In most cases, this transliteration is based on the working language in which ICAO communicates with the State concerned. For example, place names of Lebanon (working language French) are given in the French form.

Where the place name identifies an aerodrome with a name different from that of the city it serves, the city name appears first, followed by an oblique stroke (/) and the name of the aerodrome, e.g. MontréaI/Trudeau. Where it is necessary to identify a particular facility, the place name is followed by the name of the facility in brackets, e.g. Alger (ACC).

The name of the State or the administrative division thereof (province, colony, etc.) is given immediately following the place name, using the spelling officially used in the State concerned, or its transliterated form.

^1. For details, see Chapter 4 of Volume II of Annex 10 — Aeronautical Telecommunications and Appendix 5 of Annex 15 — Aeronautical Information Services.