IATA or ICAO: cargo paperwork uses the three-letter IATA code
Use the three-letter IATA code (BLR, LAX, PVG). It is the code on an air waybill, a booking, a flight schedule and a bag tag. IATA assigns it to airports and to some cities, and it is what a forwarder, an airline cargo desk or a customs broker means by "the airport code".
The four-letter ICAO code (VOBL, KLAX, ZSPD) is for flight plans, air-traffic control and weather reports. Its first letter or two give the region and country: K for the contiguous United States, V for South Asia, Z for China. That makes it unambiguous worldwide, but it rarely appears on cargo paperwork.
Some airports also have a local code. In the United States that is the FAA identifier, which usually, but not always, matches the IATA code. Each airport page shows every code the source records and leaves out any it does not. Nothing here is guessed from the airport name.
Why the right code matters for an air shipment
The code sets where your rate applies. The air waybill names the origin and destination airports by IATA code, and a forwarder quotes airport-to-airport between those two codes unless the booking is door-to-door. Quoting the wrong code is one of the quieter causes of a missed consolidation: a city code where the airline wants the airport, or the passenger airport of a city whose cargo flies from another.
A US airport also has a customs code. As a port of entry it has its own four-digit CBP Schedule D code, and that is the code that goes on CBP Form 7501. US airport pages here link to the matching Schedule D page where the Census list names the airport. Airlift coordinates entry filing through our licensed broker network.
Next, work out the chargeable weight. Air freight is priced on the greater of actual weight and volumetric weight, and the calculator linked from every airport page does the math for your cartons.
How to search
Type a code or a place: BLR, VOBL, Bengaluru and Kempegowda all find the same airport. An exact IATA code ranks first, then an exact ICAO code, then a code prefix, then a city or airport name. Use the country filter when a city name is shared: there is a Portland in Oregon and one in Maine.
Every result shows the codes and the country. Airports with their own page link to it, and the per-country lists further down include every one of them.
Where the data comes from
Airport names, codes, coordinates, elevations, types and scheduled-service flags come from OurAirports, a community-maintained airport database released into the public domain. The index includes every large or medium airport in that list with an IATA code and scheduled service.
Codes change occasionally as airports open, close and are renamed, so check the code with your airline or forwarder before it goes on a document.
CBP Schedule D codes are from the U.S. Census Bureau Schedule D district/port list, cross-checked against CBP’s ACE Appendix E. Where the two disagree, as for JFK (CBP 4701, Census 1012) and Morristown (CBP 4681, Census 1081), the airport page gives CBP’s code, which is the one an entry is filed under. Two Census codes, 1412 (New River Valley, PSK) and 3883 (Lansing, LAN), are not in Appendix E and CBP gives no replacement, so those pages give the Census code and say to confirm the entry port with a licensed customs broker. Lane guides, seaport pages and the air freight service page are Airlift’s own.