Addis Ababa Bole International Airport, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

What is the difference between ADD and HAAB?

ADD is the IATA code, used commercially — tickets, timetables, luggage tags. HAAB is the ICAO code, used operationally by pilots and air traffic control, and assigned geographically by region.

What airport is ADD?

ADD is

Addis Ababa Bole International Airport

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Why the code is ADD

ADD from Addis Ababa.

The airport authority or a contemporaneous record states this directly.

The airport

IATA code: ADD
ICAO code: HAAB
Airport: Addis Ababa Bole International Airport
City: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Code origin: Documented

Addis Ababa has overtaken every other African airport for international connections, because Ethiopian Airlines built a hub-and-spoke network across the continent from it. At 2,334 m it is one of the highest international airports in the world, higher than Johannesburg.

The other code, HAAB

Every airport has two codes. The three-letter IATA code, ADD, is the one on your boarding pass and your luggage tag, and it is assigned for commercial use. The four-letter ICAO code, HAAB, is the one pilots and controllers use, and it is assigned geographically: the first letter or two identify the region, so every airport in the same part of the world shares a prefix. That is why HAAB looks nothing like ADD.

Common questions

What airport is ADD?: Addis Ababa Bole International Airport, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Why is Addis Ababa's airport called ADD?: ADD from Addis Ababa.
What is the difference between ADD and HAAB?: ADD is the IATA code, used commercially — tickets, timetables, luggage tags. HAAB is the ICAO code, used operationally by pilots and air traffic control, and assigned geographically by region.

Ethiopia Capital, area, population and currency
The flag of Ethiopia Colours, symbols and lookalikes
Airport codes in Ethiopia 1 here

Sources

OurAirports — OurAirports (Public domain)

How these figures are compiled and checked