How to get timezone from airport code (IATA/FAA)
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How to Get Timezone from Airport Code (IATA/FAA)

Discover reliable methods and data sources to accurately determine the timezone associated with an IATA or FAA airport code, essential for flight scheduling and logistics.
Accurately determining the timezone for a given airport code (IATA or FAA) is a common requirement in various applications, from flight tracking and scheduling to logistics and data analysis. Unlike country codes, which often map directly to a single timezone (or a small set), airport codes can be more complex due to their specific geographic locations within larger timezones, or even across timezone boundaries in rare cases. This article explores effective strategies and data sources to tackle this challenge, focusing on practical PHP implementations.
Understanding the Challenge
Airport codes like IATA (e.g., 'JFK', 'LHR') and FAA (e.g., 'LAX', 'ORD') are unique identifiers for airports. While they pinpoint a location, directly mapping them to a timezone requires a robust dataset that links these codes to precise geographical coordinates or directly to a timezone identifier (like 'America/New_York').
Several factors make this challenging:
- Data Availability: No single, universally free, and always up-to-date API or database directly provides this mapping.
- Timezone Changes: Timezone rules (including Daylight Saving Time) can change, requiring updated data.
- Granularity: A country might have multiple timezones, and an airport's specific location within that country determines its exact timezone.
flowchart TD A["Airport Code (IATA/FAA)"] --> B{"Lookup Airport Data"} B --> C{"Geographic Coordinates (Lat/Lon)"} C --> D{"Timezone API/Library"} D --> E["Timezone Identifier (e.g., 'America/New_York')"] B --> F{"Direct Timezone Mapping (if available)"} F --> E E --> G["PHP DateTimeZone Object"] G --> H["Local Time at Airport"] style A fill:#f9f,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px style E fill:#bbf,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
Process Flow for Determining Airport Timezone
Data Sources for Airport Information
The first step is to get reliable data that links airport codes to their geographical coordinates. Here are some common sources:
- OurAirports Database: This is a popular, free, and comprehensive dataset available for download. It contains information on thousands of airports worldwide, including IATA/FAA codes, latitude, and longitude.
- OpenFlights Database: Similar to OurAirports, OpenFlights provides airport data, often used in conjunction with route data.
- Commercial APIs: Services like Amadeus, FlightAware, or aviation data providers offer APIs that can return detailed airport information, including coordinates or even direct timezone identifiers, but often come with a cost.
- Wikipedia/Public Data: While not programmatic, Wikipedia pages for airports often list their coordinates, which can be manually scraped or used for verification.
Mapping Coordinates to Timezones in PHP
Once you have the latitude and longitude for an airport, the next step is to translate these coordinates into a standard timezone identifier (e.g., America/New_York
). PHP's built-in DateTimeZone
class is powerful, but it doesn't directly map coordinates to timezones. You'll need an external service or library for this.
Popular options include:
- Google Time Zone API: A robust API that takes latitude/longitude and a timestamp, returning the timezone ID and offset. It requires an API key and has usage limits.
- TimezoneDB API: Another popular free (with limits) and paid API for timezone lookup by coordinates.
timezone-finder
(PHP Port/Library): Libraries liketimezone-finder
(or its PHP ports/equivalents) allow you to perform offline lookups using shapefiles, which can be resource-intensive but avoid external API calls.
Let's demonstrate using a hypothetical function that retrieves coordinates and then uses a (simulated) timezone lookup.
<?php
/**
* Simulates fetching airport coordinates from a database/CSV.
* In a real application, this would query your loaded airport data.
*/
function getAirportCoordinates(string $airportCode): ?array
{
$airportData = [
'JFK' => ['lat' => 40.6413, 'lon' => -73.7781], // New York
'LHR' => ['lat' => 51.4700, 'lon' => -0.4543], // London
'LAX' => ['lat' => 33.9416, 'lon' => -118.4085], // Los Angeles
'SYD' => ['lat' => -33.8688, 'lon' => 151.2093] // Sydney
];
return $airportData[strtoupper($airportCode)] ?? null;
}
/**
* Simulates calling a timezone API (e.g., Google Time Zone API, TimezoneDB).
* In a real application, you'd make an HTTP request here.
* Returns a timezone identifier like 'America/New_York'.
*/
function getTimezoneFromCoordinates(float $latitude, float $longitude): ?string
{
// Example: Using a placeholder for an API call
// For a real implementation, you'd use cURL or Guzzle to call an external API
// e.g., https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/timezone/json?location=LAT,LON×tamp=TIMESTAMP&key=YOUR_API_KEY
// or https://api.timezonedb.com/v2.1/get-time-zone?key=YOUR_API_KEY&format=json&by=position&lat=LAT&lng=LON
// This is a simplified lookup for demonstration purposes.
// In reality, you'd parse the API response.
if ($latitude > 30 && $longitude < -100) return 'America/Los_Angeles';
if ($latitude > 30 && $longitude < -70) return 'America/New_York';
if ($latitude > 50 && $longitude < 0) return 'Europe/London';
if ($latitude < -30 && $longitude > 150) return 'Australia/Sydney';
return null;
}
// --- Usage Example ---
$airportCode = 'JFK';
$coords = getAirportCoordinates($airportCode);
if ($coords) {
$timezoneId = getTimezoneFromCoordinates($coords['lat'], $coords['lon']);
if ($timezoneId) {
try {
$timezone = new DateTimeZone($timezoneId);
echo "Airport {$airportCode} is in timezone: {$timezone->getName()}\n";
// Get current time at the airport
$dateTime = new DateTime('now', $timezone);
echo "Current time at {$airportCode}: {$dateTime->format('Y-m-d H:i:s')}\n";
} catch (Exception $e) {
echo "Error creating DateTimeZone object: " . $e->getMessage() . "\n";
}
} else {
echo "Could not determine timezone for {$airportCode} coordinates.\n";
}
} else {
echo "Airport code {$airportCode} not found.\n";
}
$airportCode = 'LHR';
$coords = getAirportCoordinates($airportCode);
if ($coords) {
$timezoneId = getTimezoneFromCoordinates($coords['lat'], $coords['lon']);
if ($timezoneId) {
$timezone = new DateTimeZone($timezoneId);
echo "Airport {$airportCode} is in timezone: {$timezone->getName()}\n";
}
}
?>
PHP example for getting timezone from airport code using simulated coordinate lookup.
Implementing a Robust Solution
For a production-ready solution, consider these steps:
- Data Ingestion: Download and parse an airport database (e.g., OurAirports CSV). Store this data in your own database (MySQL, PostgreSQL, etc.) for quick lookups.
- Coordinate Lookup: Create a function to query your local database for an airport's latitude and longitude based on its IATA/FAA code.
- Timezone Service: Choose a timezone lookup service (API or library). If using an API, ensure you have an API key and handle rate limits.
- Caching: Cache timezone results for coordinates. Timezones for a given lat/lon pair don't change frequently, so caching can significantly reduce API calls and improve speed.
- Error Handling: Implement robust error handling for missing airport codes, failed API calls, and invalid timezone identifiers.
- Regular Updates: Periodically update your airport data and potentially re-verify timezone mappings, especially if using an offline library that relies on shapefiles.
1. Step 1: Obtain Airport Data
Download the airports.csv
file from a reliable source like OurAirports. This file contains IATA/FAA codes, names, cities, countries, and crucially, latitude and longitude.
2. Step 2: Load Data into a Database
Import the airports.csv
data into a database table (e.g., airports
) with columns for iata_code
, faa_code
, latitude
, longitude
, etc. Index the code columns for fast lookups.
3. Step 3: Implement Coordinate Retrieval
Write a PHP function that queries your database using the provided airport code (IATA or FAA) and returns the corresponding latitude and longitude.
4. Step 4: Integrate Timezone Lookup Service
Choose a timezone API (e.g., Google Time Zone API) or an offline library. Implement a function that takes latitude and longitude and returns a timezone identifier (e.g., America/New_York
). Remember to include your API key if required.
5. Step 5: Utilize PHP's DateTimeZone
Once you have the timezone identifier, create a DateTimeZone
object and then a DateTime
object with that timezone to perform any time-related calculations or display local time.
By combining a reliable airport database with a robust timezone lookup service, you can accurately determine the timezone for any given IATA or FAA airport code, enabling precise time-based operations in your applications.