What airport is YYC?

Why the code is YYC

Y prefix plus YC, from the Calgary radio station identifier.

This is the explanation in general circulation and it is very likely right, but no primary document has been published that settles it. Treated as an account rather than a fact.

The airport

IATA code

YYC

ICAO code

CYYC

Airport

Calgary International Airport

City

Calgary, Canada

Code origin

The usual account, unverified

YYC has become a civic shorthand in Calgary in the same way PDX has in Portland, used as a hashtag and in business names by people who are not going anywhere. It is the main gateway to Banff and the Rockies, an hour and a half west.

The other code, CYYC

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