Commonly Used Airline Delay & Diversion Codes

For Notes and Disclaimers, plus a postscript please see page 4 - DIH Numeric Alphabetic Description

Airline Internal Codes: 00 01 02 03 04 05 Others: 06 Schedules 09 SG SCHEDULED GROUND TIME LESS THAN DECLARED MINIMUM GROUND TIME OA NO GATE/STAND AVAILABILITY DUE TO OWN AIRLINE ACTIVITY IATA has recommended that these codes are used by individual airlines to develop code definitions that meet their specific requirements: e.g. 03 "Three-class system" moving curtain. Note At time of writing the IATA Recommendation AHM 730 does NOT suggest any Alphabetic Equivalents for these codes

Passenger and Baggage 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 PD PL PE PO PH PS PC PB LATE CHECK-IN, acceptance after deadline LATE CHECK-IN, congestion in check-in area CHECK-IN ERROR, passenger and baggage OVERSALES, booking errors BOARDING, discrepancies and paging, missing checked-in passenger COMMERCIAL PUBLICITY! PASSENGER CONVENIENCE, VIP, press, ground meals and missing personal items CATERING ORDER, late or incorrect order given to supplier BAGGAGE PROCESSING, sorting, etc.

Cargo and Mail If delays caused by Mail handling can be identified use the Mail specific codes in the next section (2729), otherwise use the codes detailed below (21-26). DOCUMENTATION, errors, etc 21 CD 22 CP LATE POSITIONING 23 CC LATE ACCEPTANCE 24 CI INADEQUATE PACKING 25 CO OVERSALES, booking errors 26 CU LATE PREPARATION IN WAREHOUSE Mail Only 27 28 29 CE CL CA DOCUMENTATION, PACKING, etc LATE POSITIONING LATE ACCEPTANCE

Aircraft and Ramp Handling 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 GD GL GE GS GC GF GB GU GT AIRCRAFT DOCUMENTATION LATE/INACCURATE, weight and balance, general declaration, pax manifest, etc. LOADING/UNLOADING, bulky, special load, cabin load, lack of loading staff LOADING EQUIPMENT, lack of or breakdown, e.g. container pallet loader, lack of staff SERVICING EQUIPMENT, lack of or breakdown, lack of staff, e.g. steps AIRCRAFT CLEANING FUELLING/DEFUELLlNG, fuel supplier CATERING, late delivery or loading ULD, lack of or serviceability TECHNICAL EQUIPMENT, lack of or breakdown, lack of staff, e.g. pushback

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Commonly Used Airline Delay & Diversion Codes

Numeric Alphabetic Description

Technical and Aircraft Equipment 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 TD TM TN TS TA TC TL TV AIRCRAFT DEFECTS SCHEDULED MAINTENANCE, late release NON-SCHEDULED MAINTENANCE, special checks and/or additional works beyond normal maintenance schedule SPARES AND MAINTENANCE EQUIPMENT, lack of or breakdown AOG SPARES, to be carried to another station AIRCRAFT CHANGE, for technical reasons STANDBY AIRCRAFT, lack of planned standby aircraft for technical reasons SCHEDULED CABIN CONFIGURATION VERSION ADJUSTMENTS

Damage to Aircraft 51 52 DF DG DAMAGE DURING FLIGHT OPERATIONS, bird or lightning strike, turbulence, heavy or overweight landing, collision during taxying DAMAGE DURING GROUND OPERATIONS, collisions (other than during taxying), loading/off-loading damage, contamination, towing, extreme weather conditions

Automated Equipment Failure/EDP (Computer System) 55 56 57 ED EC EF DEPARTURE CONTROL CARGO PREPARATION/DOCUMENTATION FLIGHT PLANS

Flight Operations and Crewing 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 Weather 71 72 73 75 76 77 WO WT WR WI WS WG WEATHER AT DEPARTURE STATION WEATHER AT DESTINATION STATION WEATHER EN ROUTE OR ALTERNATE DE-ICING OF AIRCRAFT, removal of ice and/or snow, frost prevention excluding unserviceable equipment REMOVAL OF SNOW, ICE, WATER AND SAND FROM AIRPORT GROUND HANDLING IMPAIRED BY ADVERSE WEATHER CONDITIONS FP FF FT FS FR FL FC FA FB FP FLIGHT PLAN, late completion or change of, flight documentation OPERATIONAL REQUIREMENTS, fuel, load alteration LATE CREW BOARDING OR DEPARTURE PROCEDURES, other than connection and standby (flight deck or entire crew) FLIGHT DECK CREW SHORTAGE, sickness, awaiting standby, flight time limitations, crew meals, valid visa. health documents, etc FLIGHT DECK CREW SPECIAL REQUEST, not within operational requirements LATE CABIN CREW BOARDING OR DEPARTURE PROCEDURES, other than connection and standby CABIN CREW SHORTAGE, sickness, awaiting standby, flight time limitations, crew meals, valid visa, health documents, etc CABIN CREW ERROR OR SPECIAL REQUEST, not within operational requirements CAPTAINS REQUEST FOR SECURITY CHECK, extraordinary

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Commonly Used Airline Delay & Diversion Codes

Numeric Alphabetic Description

Air Traffic Flow Management Restrictions 81 82 AT AX ATFM DUE TO ATC EN-ROUTE DEMAND/CAPACITY, standard demand/capacity problems ATFM DUE TO ATC STAFF/ EQUIPMENT EN-ROUTE, reduced capacity caused by industrial action or staff shortage or equipment failure, extraordinary demand due to capacity reduction in neighbouring area ATFM DUE TO RESTRICTION AT DESTINATION AIRPORT, airport and/or runway closed due to obstruction, industrial action, staff shortage, political unrest, noise abatement, night curfew, special flights ATFM DUE TO WEATHER AT DESTINATION

83

AE

84

AW

Airport and Governmental Authorities 85 86 87 88 AS AG AF AD MANDATORY SECURITY IMMIGRATION, CUSTOMS, HEALTH AIRPORT FACILITIES, parking stands, ramp congestion, lighting, buildings, gate limitations, etc RESTRICTIONS AT AIRPORT OF DESTINATION, airport and/or runway closed due to obstruction, industrial action, staff shortage, political unrest, noise abatement, night curfew, special flights RESTRICTIONS AT AIRPORT OF DEPARTURE WITH OR WITHOUT ATFM RESTRICTIONS, including Air Traffic Services, start-up and pushback, airport and/or runway closed due to obstruction or weather (restriction due to weather in case of AFTM regulation only, else refer to code 71 (WO, industrial action, staff shortage, political unrest, noise abatement, night curfew, special flights

89

AM

Reactionary 91 92 93 94 95 96 RL RT RA RS RC RO LOAD CONNECTION, awaiting load from another flight THROUGH CHECK-IN ERROR, passenger and baggage AIRCRAFT ROTATION, late arrival of aircraft from another flight or previous sector CABIN CREW ROTATION, awaiting cabin crew from another flight CREW ROTATION, awaiting crew from another flight (flight deck or entire crew) OPERATIONS CONTROL, rerouting, diversion, consolidation, aircraft change for reasons other than technical

Miscellaneous 97 98 99 MI MO MX INDUSTRIAL ACTION WITHIN OWN AIRLINE INDUSTRIAL ACTION OUTSIDE OWN AIRLINE, excluding ATS NOT COVERED BY ANY OF OTHER DEFINED CODES. If after confirming that the problem cannot be identified by us of any of the codes in the above list, then a summary of the problem MUST be included in the SI (Supplementary Information) element of any despatched message

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Commonly Used Airline Delay & Diversion Codes

Notes and Disclaimers: a) Although this document conforms to the delay and diversion codes (with minor expansion, or spelling changes to the descriptions) approved by the Airport Handling Committee for publication in January 1999, THIS IS NOT an Official IATA Document. The only official list is that contained in the current Airport Handling Manual, or other IATA/ Documentation containing recommendation AHM 730 b) This document as posted on www.cue-dih.co.uk may not therefore conform to the latest AHM 730 and should only be used for illustrative purposes c) Although Alphabetic versions of the Code scheme remain valid, NUMERIC CODES have been adopted as the PRIMARY CODE SCHEME and gradually the Alphabetical scheme will be of historical interest only. d) IATA recognise that as some codes provide an umbrella description of the problem, it is recommended that SI (Supplementary Information) element of messages is used to clarify code ambiguities [see also g) below] e) Although IATA members can submit requests for changes or, additions to the AHM 730 Code List for consideration at anytime. IATA policy is once a changed list is published there will be a minimum of three years before another update is promulgated (at time of writing no change has been made in 5 years). Following publication of a change my experience is that many airlines may not adopt the change immediately and others may, after review continue using a previous version of the recommendation f) Although outside of the USA almost all Airlines base their Delay and Diversion codes on AHM 730 there are variations that apply to individual Airlines, either as in the case of this document minor changes in the descriptive text (to assist staff to more easily identify the code to be used), or more radical departures from the definition of a code. Other Airlines have their own codes within the recommendations categories where there is currently available space in that categories sequence e.g. applying a numeric code 60 for Crew being required to change Aircraft. IATA is concerned about these variations and general non-conformance and the following statement is part of the introduction to AHM 730: The standardisation of codes used for this purpose is essential for commonality in EDP systems, uniform agency handling, exchange of information, statistical comparison and management analysis. There are already cases where Carriers have defined for their own purposes, unused numeric codes which are then defined with a completely different meaning in the next issue of the recommendation. As all their computer systems and training now uses the non-standard code, they continue to use their now non conforming Code List, to the confusion of Handling Agencies everywhere. Some airlines internally use alpha suffixes to AHM 730 codes, post operation. This is because they find some codes too general in describing a problem and once the investigation is complete they want to refine the cause for reporting and statistical purposes. The use of such suffixes against AHM 730 Codes is unique to the individual Carrier concerned and even companies contracted to perform Ground Handling are not made aware of these suffixes. In the USA many carriers have evolved Code Schemes and definitions which are so different from the IATA recommendations that even correlation of their coding scheme with AHM 730 is difficult. In addition some US Carriers have different coding schemes for Delay and Diversion One coding scheme that IATA has published a correlation table for is the Codes used by Eurocontrol Central Flow Management Unit (CFMU) and this now forms part of AHM 730

g)

h)

i)

EOE Postscript This is the third time I have prepared a list which conforms to the IATA Recommendation AHM 730 for Codes for use in Messages where reasons for Delay, or Diversion are required. The first time in the late 1980s was specifically as part of the material for giving a course. The second combined the course usage with a means of providing a Plastic Covered Quick Reference for Ramp Dispatch and Control Centres for the Airline I was then consulting for. Amazingly copies of this version still surface from time to time (14 Years later)! The reason for doing this yet again was primarily to provide a Quick Reference for the people I work with to check off against customer implementation and variations on AHM 730 prior to pre-delivery database build. Douglas Holland 04th October 2004

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Updated: 04 October 2004