IATA Airport Code Validation in Node.js — Lookup, ICAO & Timezone

1. What is an IATA airport code?

An IATA airport code (also called an IATA location identifier) is a three-letter code assigned by the International Air Transport Association to airports and metropolitan areas worldwide. These codes appear on boarding passes, luggage tags, flight status displays, and booking confirmations.

IATA maintains codes for over 9,000 airports globally. The codes are used across the entire aviation ecosystem — from passenger booking systems and GDS platforms (Amadeus, Sabre, Travelport) to baggage routing, cargo manifests, and flight operations.

Some well-known examples: WAW (Warsaw Chopin), JFK (John F. Kennedy, New York), LHR (London Heathrow), NRT (Narita, Tokyo).

2. IATA vs ICAO

Two coding systems exist for airports. IATA codes are three-letter identifiers used in commercial aviation — ticketing, passenger-facing systems, and travel APIs. ICAO codes are four-letter identifiers used in air traffic control, flight plans, meteorological reports (METARs), and NOTAMs.

ICAO codes follow a regional prefix system — K for the contiguous United States, EG for the United Kingdom, EP for Poland, RJ for Japan. IATA codes have no such geographic structure.

3. Why airport code validation matters

4. The right solution: one API call

The IsValid IATA Airport API validates the format, looks up the airport in a directory of 9,000+ entries, and returns name, city, country, ICAO code, timezone, and airport type — all from a single GET request.

Get your free API key at isvalid.dev — 100 calls per day, no credit card required.

Full parameter reference and response schema: IATA Airport Validation API docs →

5. Node.js code example

Using the @isvalid-dev/sdk package or the native fetch API (Node 18+).

// airportValidator.js
import { createClient } from '@isvalid-dev/sdk';

const iv = createClient({ apiKey: process.env.ISVALID_API_KEY });

// ── Example usage ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

const result = await iv.iata.airport('WAW');

if (!result.valid) {
  console.log('Invalid IATA code format');
} else if (!result.found) {
  console.log('Valid format but airport not found in directory');
} else {
  console.log(`${result.name} (${result.iata}/${result.icao})`);
  console.log(`${result.city}, ${result.countryName} · ${result.timezone}`);
  // → Warsaw Chopin Airport (WAW/EPWA)
  // → Warsaw, Poland · Europe/Warsaw
}

// airportBatch.js — validate multiple IATA codes sequentially
async function validateAirports(codeList) {
  const results = [];

  for (const code of codeList) {
    try {
      const data = await validateAirport(code);
      results.push({ code, ...data });
    } catch (err) {
      results.push({ code, valid: false, error: err.message });
    }
  }

  return results;
}

// ── Example ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

const codes = ['WAW', 'JFK', 'LHR', 'XYZ', '123'];
const results = await validateAirports(codes);

for (const r of results) {
  const status = r.valid && r.found ? '✓' : r.valid ? '?' : '✗';
  const name = r.name ?? 'not found';
  console.log(`  ${status}  ${r.code.padEnd(5)}  ${name}`);
}

6. cURL example

Warsaw Chopin Airport:

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  "https://api.isvalid.dev/v0/iata/airport?value=WAW"

Valid format but not found in directory:

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  "https://api.isvalid.dev/v0/iata/airport?value=XYZ"

Invalid format (digits instead of letters):

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  "https://api.isvalid.dev/v0/iata/airport?value=123"

7. Understanding the response

Response for WAW (Warsaw Chopin Airport):

{
  "valid": true,
  "found": true,
  "iata": "WAW",
  "icao": "EPWA",
  "name": "Warsaw Chopin Airport",
  "city": "Warsaw",
  "countryCode": "PL",
  "countryName": "Poland",
  "timezone": "Europe/Warsaw",
  "type": "large_airport"
}

Response for a valid format that is not in the directory:

{
  "valid": true,
  "found": false
}

Response for an invalid code:

{
  "valid": false
}

8. Edge cases to handle

const result = await iv.iata.airport('XYZ');

if (!result.valid) {
  // Format is wrong (e.g. digits, wrong length)
  console.log('Invalid IATA code format');
} else if (!result.found) {
  // Format OK, but no matching airport
  console.log('Airport code not recognised');
} else {
  // Safe to use result.name, result.icao, etc.
  console.log(result.name);
}

// All of these return the same result
const r1 = await iv.iata.airport('waw');
const r2 = await iv.iata.airport('Waw');
const r3 = await iv.iata.airport('WAW');

console.log(r1.iata); // → "WAW"
console.log(r2.iata); // → "WAW"
console.log(r3.iata); // → "WAW"