Designators and Indicators Tools

​This site provides access to the following tools:

Aircraft Type Designators
Location Indicators
Three-Letter and Telephony Designators (3LD)
International Codes and Route Designators (ICARD)
Satellite-Based Augmentation System-Channel Assignment Tool (SBAS-CAT)

• Aircraft Type Designators

  Aircraft Type Designators (Doc 8643) is a document that contains designators for those aircraft types which are most commonly provided with air traffic service (ATS). The document is divided up into four parts: Part 1 lists the common names of aircraft manufacturers and their aircraft types; Part 2 lists aircraft by their type designators showing manufacturers and models; Part 3 lists aircraft by model number and/or model name; and Part 4 lists the full names of aircraft manufacturers.

  New editions of the document are issued once a year. The information contained in this document is also made available for printing, viewing and searching in an electronic format via an on-line website database which is updated every month on the AIRAC cycle and which can be accessed here.

  ACCESS (Doc 8643) Data

  • PURCHASE a copy of Aircraft Type Designators (Doc 8643) 

  • To obtain DATA DOWNLOADS of (Doc 8643), please contact ICAOAPI [at] icao.int (ICAOAPI[at]icao[dot]int)

    GENERAL ENQUIRIES to Aircraft Type Designators (Doc 8643), please contact ops [at] icao.int (ops[at]icao[dot]int) 

     

• Location Indicators

  Location Indicators (Doc 7910) is a listing of four-letter location indicators and, where available, corresponding three-character International Air Transport Association (IATA) location identifier codes for aerodromes and other geographical locations throughout the world, and a list of the addresses of centres in charge of flight information regions (FIR) and/or upper flight information regions (UIR). These codes are defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and published in the manual on Location Indicators (Doc 7910). 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.

  ACCESS (Doc 7910) Data

  • PURCHASE a copy of Location Indicators (Doc 7910)

  • To obtain DATA DOWNLOADS of (Doc 7910), please contact ICAOAPI [at] icao.int (ICAOAPI[at]icao[dot]int)

    GENERAL ENQUIRIES to Location Indicators (Doc 7910), please contact ops [at] icao.int (ops[at]icao[dot]int) 

     

• Three-Letter and Telephony Designators (3LD)

  3LDs were designed to assist in the identification of airlines in flight.  These designators consist of a unique three-letter code which can be used for aircraft identification in a flight plan and/or a telephony designator which may be used as part of an aircraft's radiotelephony call sign ^[1].

  The 3LTD Online Request System facilitates States in the assigning of three-letter and telephony designators to agencies/airlines.  The 3LD system allows airlines to make requests for designators themselves directly, and have those requests automatically forward to the 3LD Focal Points each State for approval before assignment.

  3LTD HOME PAGE contains general information regarding 3LDs (State Focal Points for 3LD will also find a link to sign into their state's Online-Tracking for designator requests on this page)

  • Obtain NEW Designators 
  • Obtain a CONFIRMATION LETTER for existing Designators
  • MODIFY existing Designators

   

  DELETE existing Designators
  3LD State focal point is responsible for deleting those no longer used designators online (see User Guide, FAQ for State Focal Point (SFP) 2.3).

  ACCESS 3LD Data

  • PURCHASE a copy of Designators for Aircraft Operating Agencies, Aeronautical Authorities and Services (Doc 8585) 

  • To obtain DATA DOWNLOADS of 3LDs, please contact ICAOAPI [at] icao.int (ICAOAPI[at]icao[dot]int) 

     

  GENERAL ENQUIRIES regarding Three-letter and Telephony Designators can be made to 3LD [at] icao.int (3LD[at]icao[dot]int) 

  ^[1] Please note:  These ICAO designators are not to be confused with the IATA two-letter reservations codes.

   

• International Codes and Route Designators (ICARD)

   

• Satellite-Based Augmentation System-Channel Assignment Tool (SBAS-CAT)

  ​The Satellite-Based Augmentation System (SBAS) is an ICAO-standardized, wide-area GNSS augmentation system in which the user receives augmentation information from a satellite-based transmitter.

  A globally unique SBAS channel number in the range 40 000 to 99 999 must be published on any chart that includes Localizer Performance with Vertical Guidance (LPV) or Localizer Performance (LP) minima.

  See a 2 min video explaining how SBAS works HERE.

  The ICAO SBAS Channel Assignment Tool ensures the global uniqueness of SBAS channels avoiding duplication and potential safety issues. States wishing to develop SBAS procedures must register at the ICAO portal, which will enable them to request channel numbers. SBAS channel numbers will be provided to States on demand.

  CLICK HERE for registered user access to the SBAS CAT system.

  If you are not a registered SBAS user, please contact the system administrator sbas [at] icao.int (sbas[at]icao[dot]int) to register.