Wordle lovers can now play 'Airportle' to guess airport IATA codes

Users are given six tries to guess the IATA airport code. Photo / Airportle

Unless you’ve been on a digital detox or been camping out of service for the last few months, it’s likely you’ve heard of Wordle, the addictive online game that has gone viral around the world.

Well, travel-loving players now have a new game to try with the creation of Airportle.

Similar to Wordle, users are given six chances to guess a word. In Airportle's case, users have to guess airports using their 3-letter International Air Transport Association (IATA) codes.

Airports that take letters from their location or airport name may be simple to guess, like Auckland (ALK), Sydney (SYD) or New York's John F Kennedy (JFK).

However, other airports around the world take the liberty of choosing codes that represent unusual phrases or people.

Since TFB (for 'The Florida Beaches') was taken, Panama Airport landed on ECP, which jokingly stands for "Everyone Can Party".

In Maui, Kahului Airport's code OGG pays homage to Captain Jimmy Hogg, who operated the Hawaiian Airlines pilot who operated the company's first trans-Pacific flight.

Airportle was created by Scott's Cheap Flights, a website that provides information about low-cost airline tickets to more than two million members.

Kiwi players with limited knowledge on US airports may benefit from doing some research on American airports, as Scott's Cheap Flights is based out of the US.

International Air Transport Association codes are three-letter geocodes provided to airports around the world by the IATA. They are often used on airline booking websites, baggage tags and plane tickets.

The codes began common practice in the 1930s to help pilots quickly identify different locations around the world.

Several New Zealand airports use codes with the letter Z to differentiate them from similar airport names overseas.

Hamilton is HLZ, Queenstown is ZQN, and WSZ is used for Westport.

When a city has several airports, such as New York, the IATA code often refers to the name of the airport instead of the city.