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40-534: Biggs Army Airfield ( IATA : BIF , ICAO : KBIF , FAA LID : BIF ) (formerly Biggs Air Force Base ) is a United States Army military airbase located on the Fort Bliss military base in El Paso , Texas . On 15 June 1919, following an attack by Pancho Villa 's forces on Ciudad Juárez , United States Army Air Service personnel equipped with Dayton-Wright DH-4 aircraft were sent to Fort Bliss to begin patrols of

80-457: A new 116-foot (35 m) air traffic control tower was opened at the field. The annual Amigo Airsho , which was held at Biggs Army Airfield from 1982 - 2012 is set to return in October 2024, after a 12 year hiatus. [REDACTED]  This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency IATA airport code The assignment of these codes

120-550: A new airport is built, replacing the old one, leaving the city's new "major" airport (or the only remaining airport) code to no longer correspond with the city's name. The original airport in Nashville, Tennessee, was built in 1936 as part of the Works Progress Administration and called Berry Field with the designation, BNA. A new facility known as Nashville International Airport was built in 1987 but still uses BNA. This

160-410: A plane crash October 27, 1918 at Belrain, France, on January 5, 1925. On 16 March 1948 the 97th Bombardment Wing, Heavy operating B-29 Superfortresses moved to Biggs AFB from Smoky Hill Air Force Base , Kansas. The 810th Air Division was activated at Biggs AFB on 16 June 1952, it comprised the 95th Bombardment Wing (H) , 97th Bombardment Wing (H) and the 810th Air Base Group. In September 1953,

200-499: Is GSN and its IATA code is SPN, and some coincide with IATA codes of non-U.S. airports. Canada's unusual codes—which bear little to no similarity with any conventional abbreviation to the city's name—such as YUL in Montréal , and YYZ in Toronto , originated from the two-letter codes used to identify weather reporting stations in the 1930s. The letters preceding the two-letter code follow

240-567: Is a multi-service operation by the United States Department of Defense for counterdrug and anti-terrorist operations. JTF-North is headquartered at Biggs Army Airfield , Fort Bliss , Texas. United States Northern Command is the controlling Unified Combatant Command . On 2 July 2019, acting Commander, COL Paul Garcia, relinquished command to Brigadier General Reginald G. A. Neal. On 6 November 2020, Major General Neal transferred command to Major General Randall V. Simmons, Jr., who

280-600: Is available. However, many railway administrations have their own list of codes for their stations, such as the list of Amtrak station codes . Airport codes arose out of the convenience that the practice brought pilots for location identification in the 1930s. Initially, pilots in the United States used the two-letter code from the National Weather Service (NWS) for identifying cities. This system became unmanageable for cities and towns without an NWS identifier, and

320-518: Is different from the name in English, yet the airport code represents only the English name. Examples include: Due to scarcity of codes, some airports are given codes with letters not found in their names: The use of 'X' as a filler letter is a practice to create three-letter identifiers when more straightforward options were unavailable: Some airports in the United States retained their NWS ( National Weather Service ) codes and simply appended an X at

360-650: Is governed by IATA Resolution 763, and it is administered by the IATA's headquarters in Montreal , Canada. The codes are published semi-annually in the IATA Airline Coding Directory. IATA provides codes for airport handling entities, and for certain railway stations. Alphabetical lists of airports sorted by IATA code are available. A list of railway station codes , shared in agreements between airlines and rail lines such as Amtrak , SNCF , and Deutsche Bahn ,

400-513: Is in conjunction to rules aimed to avoid confusion that seem to apply in the United States, which state that "the first and second letters or second and third letters of an identifier may not be duplicated with less than 200 nautical miles separation." Thus, Washington, D.C. area's three airports all have radically different codes: IAD for Washington–Dulles , DCA for Washington–Reagan (District of Columbia Airport), and BWI for Baltimore (Baltimore–Washington International, formerly BAL). Since HOU

440-532: Is not followed outside the United States: In addition, since three letter codes starting with Q are widely used in radio communication, cities whose name begins with "Q" also had to find alternate codes, as in the case of: IATA codes should not be confused with the FAA identifiers of U.S. airports. Most FAA identifiers agree with the corresponding IATA codes, but some do not, such as Saipan , whose FAA identifier

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480-755: Is the former commander as of 14 December 2022. Major General Matthew D. Smith assumed command on 14 December 2022, and is the 11th Commander of JTF-N. Well-known former members of Joint Task Force 6 include: General Kevin P. Byrnes, U.S. Army, Ret., JTF-6 Commanding General; Colonel Robert Love, USMC, Ret., and current Senior Executive Service (SES) member to the DoD's Task Force for Business and Stability Operations (TFBSO); Special Forces LTC Eric Buckland, U.S. Army, Ret., and Captain Kirk Harrington, owner of EFMC, LLC. On 21 May 1995, during JTF-6 Mission "Smugglers Blues" (a joint air reconnaissance mission conducted along

520-416: Is used for William P. Hobby Airport , the new Houston–Intercontinental became IAH. The code BKK was originally assigned to Bangkok–Don Mueang and was later transferred to Suvarnabhumi Airport , while the former adopted DMK. The code ISK was originally assigned to Gandhinagar Airport (Nashik's old airport) and later on transferred to Ozar Airport (Nashik's current airport). Shanghai–Hongqiao retained

560-561: The Canadian transcontinental railroads were built, each station was assigned its own two-letter Morse code : When the Canadian government established airports, it used the existing railway codes for them as well. If the airport had a weather station, authorities added a "Y" to the front of the code, meaning "Yes" to indicate it had a weather station or some other letter to indicate it did not. When international codes were created in cooperation with

600-404: The 810th Air Division moved from Biggs AFB to Minot Air Force Base , North Dakota . In December 1965 it was announced that Biggs AFB would be closed. In January 1966 Assistant Secretary of Defense (Installations and Logistics) Paul Ignatius testified to Congress that "The operational environment at Biggs poses serious problems. Such factors as the proximity of El Paso International Airport ,

640-696: The 95th began training with the B-36 Peacemaker bomber while the 97th flew the B-50 Superfortress . On 12 February 1959, the last operational B-36J Peacemaker left Biggs AFB where it had been serving with the 95th Bombardment Wing. The 95th then transitioned to the B-52B Stratofortress and the KC-135A Stratotanker . In July 1959 the 97th Bombardment Wing (H) moved from Biggs AFB to Blytheville Air Force Base , Arkansas. On 1 July 1962

680-583: The Airfield. Vietnamese instruction continued at the Defense Language Institute-Southwest (DLISW) until 2004, concurrent with the establishment in 1972 of the US Army's Sergeants Major Academy. The former Biggs AFB remained under DoD control in a caretaker status until 1973 when it was transferred to the U.S. Army as a sub-post of nearby Fort Bliss. Renamed Biggs Army Airfield, the installation

720-631: The Angeles National Forest, California) Lance Corporal Eric D. Davis of Company B, 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment (1/5) died as the result of a fall. On 20 May 1997, during an operation in Redford , Texas, near the United States–Mexico border , Corporal Clemente M. Banuelos, the leader of his squad, fatally shot 18-year-old American citizen Esequiel Hernández, Jr ., on the American side of

760-511: The U.S. For example, several airports in Alaska have scheduled commercial service, such as Stebbins and Nanwalek , which use FAA codes instead of ICAO codes. Thus, neither system completely includes all airports with scheduled service. Some airports are identified in colloquial speech by their IATA code. Examples include LAX and JFK . Joint Task Force North Joint Task Force North (JTF North) , formerly Joint Task Force Six (JTF-6),

800-615: The U.S.-Mexico border, initiating the United States Army Border Air Patrol . In August 1919 construction commenced on a steel hangar for an airship station at Camp Owen Bierne, Fort Bliss and in December 1919 the 8th Balloon Company moved there from Brooks Field , Texas. In January 1920 the 1st Surveillance Group moved from Kelly Field to Fort Bliss. The airfield was officially named "Biggs Field" after Lieutenant James Berthea "Buster" Biggs, an El Paso native killed in

840-515: The US and Mexico border near Nogales, Arizona) Chief Warrant Officer 2 (CW2) Kevin L. Jenkins and Chief Warrant Officer 2 (CW2) John D. Peterson, both from Alpha Troop, 1st Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment (1/6 CAV) station in Fort Hood, Texas, died when their OH-58C helicopter crashed during a night surveillance mission. On 2 June 1996, during JTF-6 Mission JT177-96, (a ground reconnaissance mission conducted in

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880-481: The United States, because "Y" was seldom used in the United States, Canada simply used the weather station codes for its airports, changing the "Y" to a "Z" if it conflicted with an airport code already in use. The result is that most major Canadian airport codes start with "Y" followed by two letters in the city's name (for example, YOW for O tta w a , YWG for W innipe g , YYC for C algar y , or YVR for V ancouve r ), whereas other Canadian airports append

920-440: The airport itself instead of the city it serves, while another code is reserved which refers to the city itself which can be used to search for flights to any of its airports. For instance: Or using a code for the city in one of the major airports and then assigning another code to another airport: When different cities with the same name each have an airport, they need to be assigned different codes. Examples include: Sometimes,

960-418: The airport's former name, such as Orlando International Airport 's MCO (for Mc C o y Air Force Base), or Chicago's O'Hare International Airport , which is coded ORD for its original name: Or char d Field. In rare cases, the code comes from the airport's unofficial name, such as Kahului Airport 's OGG (for local aviation pioneer Jimmy H ogg ). In large metropolitan areas, airport codes are often named after

1000-461: The border. He was holding a .22 caliber rifle he used to protect his herd of goats from predators. Marines alleged that he pointed the rifle at them, although they were some 200 yards away and heavily camouflaged in ghillie suits . No charges were brought at the time or subsequently. The shooting inspired the 2005 film The Three Burials of Melquíades Estrada by Tommy Lee Jones . The 2007 documentary The Ballad of Esequiel Hernández explores

1040-491: The code SHA, while the newer Shanghai–Pudong adopted PVG. The opposite was true for Berlin : the airport Berlin–Tegel used the code TXL, while its smaller counterpart Berlin–Schönefeld used SXF; the Berlin Brandenburg Airport has the airport code BER, which is also part of its branding. The airports of Hamburg (HAM) and Hannover (HAJ) are less than 100 nautical miles (190 km) apart and therefore share

1080-874: The end. Examples include: A lot of minor airfields without scheduled passenger traffic have ICAO codes but not IATA codes, since the four letter codes allow more number of codes, and IATA codes are mainly used for passenger services such as tickets, and ICAO codes by pilots. In the US, such airfields use FAA codes instead of ICAO. There are airports with scheduled service for which there are ICAO codes but not IATA codes, such as Nkhotakota Airport/Tangole Airport in Malawi or Chōfu Airport in Tokyo, Japan. There are also several minor airports in Russia (e.g., Omsukchan Airport ) which lack IATA codes and instead use internal Russian codes for booking. Flights to these airports cannot be booked through

1120-557: The first three letters of the city in which it is located, for instance: The code may also be a combination of the letters in its name, such as: Sometimes the airport code reflects pronunciation, rather than spelling, namely: For many reasons, some airport codes do not fit the normal scheme described above. Some airports, for example, cross several municipalities or regions, and therefore, use codes derived from some of their letters, resulting in: Other airports—particularly those serving cities with multiple airports—have codes derived from

1160-474: The following format: Most large airports in Canada have codes that begin with the letter "Y", although not all "Y" codes are Canadian (for example, YUM for Yuma, Arizona , and YNT for Yantai , China), and not all Canadian airports start with the letter "Y" (for example, ZBF for Bathurst, New Brunswick ). Many Canadian airports have a code that starts with W, X or Z, but none of these are major airports. When

1200-593: The form of " YYZ ", a song by the rock band Rush , which utilizes the Morse code signal as a musical motif. Some airports have started using their IATA codes as brand names , such as Calgary International Airport (YYC) and Vancouver International Airport (YVR). Numerous New Zealand airports use codes that contain the letter Z, to distinguish them from similar airport names in other countries. Examples include HLZ for Hamilton , ZQN for Queenstown , and WSZ for Westport . Predominantly, airport codes are named after

1240-476: The interdiction of suspected transnational threats within and along the approaches to the continental United States. The Border Patrol Tactical Unit (BORTAC) operates from its headquarters co-located with its training unit at Biggs Army Airfield. The Silas L. Copeland Arrival/Departure Airfield Control Group at Biggs Army Airfield serves military and civilian personnel who deploy to their overseas assignments, such as to and from Southwest Asia. On 14 July 2017

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1280-482: The international air booking systems or have international luggage transferred there, and thus, they are booked instead through the airline or a domestic booking system. Several heliports in Greenland have 3-letter codes used internally which might be IATA codes for airports in faraway countries. There are several airports with scheduled service that have not been assigned ICAO codes that do have IATA codes, especially in

1320-612: The name of the airport itself, for instance: This is also true with some cities with a single airport (even if there is more than one airport in the metropolitan area of said city), such as BDL for Hartford, Connecticut 's B ra dl ey International Airport or Baltimore's BWI, for B altimore/ W ashington I nternational Airport ; however, the latter also serves Washington, D.C. , alongside Dulles International Airport (IAD, for I nternational A irport D ulles) and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA, for D istrict of C olumbia A irport). The code also sometimes comes from

1360-416: The one they are located in: Other airport codes are of obscure origin, and each has its own peculiarities: In Asia, codes that do not correspond with their city's names include Niigata 's KIJ , Nanchang 's KHN and Pyongyang 's FNJ . EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg , which serves three countries, has three airport codes: BSL, MLH, EAP. Some cities have a name in their respective language which

1400-501: The same first and middle letters, indicating that this rule might be followed only in Germany. Many cities retain historical names in their airport codes, even after having undergone an official name/spelling/transliteration change: Some airport codes are based on previous names associated with a present airport, often with a military heritage. These include: Some airports are named for an administrative division or nearby city, rather than

1440-497: The station code of Malton, Mississauga , where it is located). YUL is used for Montréal–Trudeau (UL was the ID code for the beacon in the city of Kirkland , now the location of Montréal–Trudeau). While these codes make it difficult for the public to associate them with a particular Canadian city, some codes have become popular in usage despite their cryptic nature, particularly at the largest airports. Toronto's code has entered pop culture in

1480-534: The suburbs of El Paso, and mountainous areas adjacent to Biggs…weapons testing areas to the north and the convergence of civil airways carrying heavy…traffic combine to create serious safety and traffic control problems." On 25 June 1966 the 95th Bombardment Wing (H) moved from Biggs AFB to Goose Air Base , Newfoundland . Starting in 1966, a branch of the Defense Language Institute (DLI) conducted Vietnamese training using native contract instructors at

1520-504: The two-letter code of the radio beacons that were the closest to the actual airport, such as YQX in Gander or YXS in Prince George . Four of the ten provincial capital airports in Canada have ended up with codes beginning with YY, including: Canada's largest airport is YYZ for Toronto Pearson (as YTZ was already allocated to Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport , the airport was given

1560-529: The use of two letters allowed only a few hundred combinations; a three-letter system of airport codes was implemented. This system allowed for 17,576 permutations, assuming all letters can be used in conjunction with each other. Since the U.S. Navy reserved "N" codes, and to prevent confusion with Federal Communications Commission broadcast call signs , which begin with "W" or "K", the airports of certain U.S. cities whose name begins with one of these letters had to adopt "irregular" airport codes: This practice

1600-403: Was reactivated in 1973 as a permanent airfield for the U.S. Army, which turned into the world’s largest Army Airfield at that time. Biggs AAF was used as a refueling stop for NASA 's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft . Biggs AAF is the base of Joint Task Force North , a United States Department of Defense multi-service organization tasked to support Federal law enforcement in the United States in

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