At One Place

What airport is DEL?

DEL is
Indira Gandhi International Airport
Delhi, India

Why the code is DEL

The first three letters of Delhi.

The airport authority or a contemporaneous record states this directly.

The airport

IATA code
DEL
ICAO code
VIDP
Airport
Indira Gandhi International Airport
City
Delhi, India
Code origin
Documented

Terminal 3's immigration hall is lined with nine large brass mudras — hand gestures from Indian classical dance — which is one of the few pieces of airport art that most passengers actually stop for. Delhi is India's busiest airport and its main international gateway.

The other code, VIDP

Every airport has two codes. The three-letter IATA code, DEL, is the one on your boarding pass and your luggage tag, and it is assigned for commercial use. The four-letter ICAO code, VIDP, 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 VIDP looks nothing like DEL.

Common questions

What airport is DEL?
Indira Gandhi International Airport, in Delhi, India.
Why is Delhi's airport called DEL?
The first three letters of Delhi.
What is the difference between DEL and VIDP?
DEL is the IATA code, used commercially — tickets, timetables, luggage tags. VIDP is the ICAO code, used operationally by pilots and air traffic control, and assigned geographically by region.

Related pages

Sources

  1. OurAirports — OurAirports (Public domain)

How these figures are compiled and checked