What does the Y at the start of all the Canadian iata airport codes ex. YVR Vancouver YEG for Edmonton stand for?

Answer 1

This answer will have to be a rather 'abridged' one as the entire story of airport codes is a fascinating, yet detailed one.

As early as 1905 only two 'airport' codes existed on the planet; ADP and AYC, (Any Damn Place and Anywhere You Can). But as the miracle of flight took hold, the necessity for location identifiers was axiomatic.

Eventually, common sense prevailed and the fledgling fliers, using little more than oversized lawnmower engines attached to balsam wood and sheets of linen, began to pinpoint their (hopeful), destinations.

As the United States' National Weather Service had already created a national map of two-letter identification system, the air pioneers decided to simply use those codes, placing an 'X' after the weather station ID. This worked, more or less, as the destinations were little more than cattle fields around various communities. For example; LA (Los Angeles), became LAX, Phoenix became PHX, etc.

It's an interesting bit of trivia to note that the location of the 'first flight' - a sand dune on the outskirts of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, maintains the honorary code of 'FFA' (First Flight Airport), which is a small airstrip maintained by the US National Parks Service.

Advance twenty-five years and the mystique of flight saw small paved strips popping up across the country, becoming what today are some of the largest land structures in the world. These strips built small beacons to help guide pilots to their destination. The air strip used a powerful rotating light (similar to a lighthouse on the shore) to help pilots find the runways. But as a result of emerging military technology, the latest technology was introduced; a series of radio beacons to which the pilot taking off at one point would tune their compass to a powerful radio beacon. The system is called 'VOR' or Visual Omnirange.

Those air strips, invariably on the periphery of towns and cities initially adapted the simplistic first three letters of the city; BOS - Boston, MIA - Miami, or slightly more diverse, but practical codes such as: SLC - Salt Lake City, MSP - Minneapolis/St Paul, etc. This system of identifying airports quickly caught on and soon expanded to include all radio navigation aids used by pilots.

The VOR beacons continually emitted Morse Code signals for their locations, some didn't adequately match the actual location, such as MSY - New Orleans, which were the Moisant Stock Yards outside of New Orleans. This system caught on quickly and spread around the world. However, at the same time the US government stepped in (we're from the government and we're here to help you?), announcing that they were commandeering a range of identifiers and at the same time, making it more 'simple' for the 'hoi polloi' (the common people of America), The US Navy quickly took ownership of the first letter 'N', flying their aircraft to destinations such as NPA - Pensacola, Florida, and NKK for Miramar California (Top Gun), and so on. Then your friends at the government thought it would be a good idea to take ownership of a few more (for your safety and protection). America's Federal Communication System commandeered the letters 'W' and 'K' for locations east and west of the Mississippi River. Then in a demonstration of 'entente cordiale,' the Americans decided to offer the letter 'Q' for International transmissions and 'just in case' they took 'Z' as well. (Because they could!).

Finally, in a rather desperate act of survival, Canada snapped up what was more or less left in the barrel. They took the letter 'Y' to use as their prefix designators: 'Y' codes; YUL - Montreal, YYC -Calgary.

In a demonstration of extreme forward thinking, 'Z' became an identifier for locations in cyberspace. For example, ZCX the address of the FAA's air traffic control headquarters central flow control facility. ZCX is not an airport but the command centre on the outskirts of Washington D.C. that controls airline and top-security traffic into Washington's major terminals and restricted airspace around the White House and Capital Building.

One final note: it is not to be assumed that virtually all airport codes beginning with Y represent Canadian locations. There are other destinations using the letter Y as the prefix:

YKM - Yakima, Washington

YNZ - Yancheng, China

YAP - Yap, Caroline Island Micronesia

YMS - Yurimaguas, Peru