What airport is IAH?
Why the code is IAH
Intercontinental Airport Houston, its name when the code was assigned.
The airport authority or a contemporaneous record states this directly.
The airport
- IATA code
- IAH
- ICAO code
- KIAH
- Airport
- George Bush Intercontinental Airport
- City
- Houston, United States
- Opened
- 1969
- Code origin
- Documented
It opened as Houston Intercontinental and was renamed for George H. W. Bush in 1997, keeping the code. Houston's other airport, Hobby, holds HOU — so the city has one airport whose code contains an H for Houston and another that is mostly H for Houston, which does not help anyone.
Codes people book by mistake
| Code | What it actually is |
|---|---|
| HOU | William P. Hobby Airport, closer to downtown, used heavily by Southwest. |
The other code, KIAH
Every airport has two codes. The three-letter IATA code, IAH, is the one on your boarding pass and your luggage tag, and it is assigned for commercial use. The four-letter ICAO code, KIAH, 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 KIAH looks nothing like IAH.
Common questions
- What airport is IAH?
- George Bush Intercontinental Airport, in Houston, United States.
- Why is Houston's airport called IAH?
- Intercontinental Airport Houston, its name when the code was assigned.
- What is the difference between IAH and KIAH?
- IAH is the IATA code, used commercially — tickets, timetables, luggage tags. KIAH is the ICAO code, used operationally by pilots and air traffic control, and assigned geographically by region.
- Is IAH the same as HOU?
- No. HOU is william P. Hobby Airport, closer to downtown, used heavily by Southwest.
Related pages
- United States Capital, area, population and currency
- The flag of United States Colours, symbols and lookalikes
- Airport codes in United States 32 here
- What airport is JFK? John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York
- What airport is LAX? Los Angeles International Airport, Los Angeles
- What airport is ORD? O'Hare International Airport, Chicago
- What airport is ATL? Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Atlanta
- What airport is MCO? Orlando International Airport, Orlando
- What airport is DFW? Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, Dallas
- What airport is EWR? Newark Liberty International Airport, Newark
- What airport is SFO? San Francisco International Airport, San Francisco
Sources
- Official vendor product documentation — At One Place