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why do canadian airport codes start with y

As New York airport is NYC or JFK ,London is LHR ,Beijing is PEK , why many Canadian airport are alll start with a “Y” ?

what is the meaning of the “Y” ?

YYC– Calgary – Calgary 
YYG – Charlottetown 
YYJ – Victoria 
YYT – St Johns 
YYZ – Toronto 


the following is the answer:


Although the naming of Canadian airports and weather stations can seem confusing, here is a brief explanation. Originally, in the 1930’s, Canada used two letters for identification of a weather reporting station. Additionally, preceding the 2-letter code, was placed a Y (meaning “yes”) where the reporting station was co-located with an airport, a W (meaning “without”) where the reporting station was not co-located with an airport, and a U where the reporting station was co-located with an NDB. An X was used if hte last two letters of the code had already been taken by another Canadian ident, and a Z was used if the locator could be confused with a U.S. three letter ident. … The ICAO names are in a 4 letter format starting with a C for Canadian airports

and exactly say, every airport in Canada is start with “C” ,not Y :

YYZ-CYYZ

YUL-CYUL

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