OAG Travel News

Often I like to take a relatively simple subject – airport codes – and look at it from a new and unique perspective.  This week I scanned all of the airports listed in the OAG Schedule Tapes – nearly 8,000 – in order to find the cities that had the same three-letter combination as their airport codes.  In other words, I wanted to find city names that were only made up of three letters that also used the exact same three letters as the airport code.  There are 10 such cities located around the world; facts about each city’s air service are included below.
AHE – Ahe, French Polynesia – Ahe Airport
Average daily flights: 26
Nonstop destinations served: 3; all the service is domestic
Airlines: 1; Air Tahiti is the only carrier to serve Ahe
Aircraft: 1; ATR 42-500 (twin turboprop)
Fun fact: At 13 miles, Air Tahiti’s flight from Ahe to Manihi is the shortest distance of any flight analyzed here

DIU – Diu, India – Diu Airport
Average daily flights: 52
Nonstop destinations served: 1; Porbandar is the only city served from Diu
Airlines: 1; Jet Airways it the only carrier to serve Diu
Aircraft: 1; ATR 72 (twin turboprop)
Fun fact: Diu is one of only two airports analyzed here with more than one runway – Diu has two runways (Ufa International Airport tops the list with five runways)

EEK – Eek, Alaska, USA – Eek Airport
Average daily flights: 379
Nonstop destinations served: 2; all the service is domestic
Airlines: 2; Flight Alaska and Grant Aviation provide Eek’s air service
Aircraft: 1; Cessna
Fun fact: With a maximum of eight seats, the Cessna fleet operating at Eek has the smallest seat capacity of any airport analyzed here

ELY – Ely, Nevada, USA – Ely Airport
Average daily flights: 62
Nonstop destinations served: 1; Moab is the only city served from Ely
Airlines: 1; Great Lakes Airlines is the only carrier to serve Ely
Aircraft: 1; Beechcraft 1900 (twin turboprop)
Fun fact: With an elevation of 6,259 feet (1,908 meters), Ely is located at a higher altitude than any of the other airports analyzed here

FEZ – Fez, Morocco – Saiss Airport
Average daily flights: 402
Nonstop destinations served: 10; 90 percent of destinations served are international – the only domestic city served nonstop is Casablanca
Airlines: 4; Royal Air Maroc is the largest carrier, followed closely by low-cost carrier Ryanair
Aircraft: 3; Boeing 737 (narrowbody), Airbus A321 (narrowbody) and ATR 72 (twin turboprop)
Fun fact: Lasting only 15 minutes, Atlas Blue’s flight from Fez to Marseille, France, is tied as the shortest flight analyzed here (Air Tahiti’s Ahe-Manihi is the other flight that has an elapsed time of only 15 minutes)

GAN – Gan, Maldives – Gan International Airport
Average daily flights: 185
Nonstop destinations served: 2; all the service is domestic
Airlines: 1; Maldivian is the only carrier serving Gan
Aircraft: 1; Dash 8 (twin turboprop)
Fun fact: At only one foot (0.3 meter) above sea level, Gan International Airport is situated at a lower altitude than any of the other airports analyzed here

IKI – Iki, Japan – Iki Airport
Average daily flights: 124
Nonstop destinations served: 1; Nagasaki Airport is the only nonstop destination served from Iki
Airlines: 1; Oriental Air Bridge serves Iki
Aircraft: 1; Dash 8 (twin turboprop)
Fun fact: Oriental Air Bridge has its hub at Nagasaki Airport (its fleet includes only two aircraft)

UFA – Ufa, Russian Federation – Ufa International Airport
Average daily flights: 869
Nonstop destinations served: 18; 15 of the cities are domestic
Airlines: 16; UTair provides one of every three flights
Aircraft: 9; Russian-made airliners account for over one-third of total flights
Fun fact: At 1,559 miles, the Turkish Airlines flight from Ufa to Istanbul, Turkey, is the longest distance of any flight analyzed here; it is also the longest flight in terms of elapsed time (four hours)

VAN – Van, Turkey – Ferit Melen Airport
Average daily flights: 276
Nonstop destinations served: 3; all service is domestic
Airlines: 2; Turkish Airlines and Pegasus Airlines provide flights to and from Van
Aircraft: 4; Boeing 737 (narrowbody), Airbus A319 (narrowbody), Airbus A320 (narrowbody), Airbus A321 (narrowbody)
Fun fact: Pegasus Airlines is a fast-growing low-cost carrier based in Turkey

YAP – Yap, Micronesia – Yap International Airport
Average daily flights: 54
Nonstop destinations served: 2; both cities served on are islands (Guam and Koror Palau)
Airlines: 1; Continental Airlines is Yap’s only airline
Aircraft: 1; Boeing 737 (narrowbody)
Fun fact: Yap is a popular destination for historical divers to view the wrecks of a large number of World War II-era Japanese war ships

Source: Official Airline Guide (OAG) Schedule Tapes for October 2009 only, unless otherwise noted; includes both departures and arrivals; includes scheduled commercial air service only; BBC; alternate spellings for city names may exist in other languages, but the spellings included here are also used