What airport is YYZ?

Why the code is YYZ

YZ was the telegraph identifier of the railway station at Malton, where the airport was built; the Y prefix is Canadian convention.

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

YYZ

ICAO code

CYYZ

Airport

Toronto Pearson International Airport

City

Toronto, Canada

Opened

1939

Code origin

The usual account, unverified

The usual explanation for the Y is that it marked a station with a co-located weather or radio facility — "Yes, there is one here" — and that stations without one took a W or a U. Transport Canada has never published a definitive account, and several competing versions circulate with equal confidence. What is documented is that the two letters after the Y usually come from a pre-existing railway telegraph code, which is why they so rarely resemble the city name.

The other code, CYYZ

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