Aircraft Registration Prefixes
Read a plane’s tail number and find out where it’s registered. Type a registration like N12345 or G-ABCD, or browse every country’s nationality prefix.
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Prefixes are assigned under ICAO Annex 7 and are stable. This reads the country straight from the leading letters of the registration — it doesn’t look up the individual aircraft. A few prefixes are shared or split (for example B covers mainland China and Taiwan, with Hong Kong as B-H and Macau as B-M), which is noted where it applies.
What country is an aircraft tail number from?
The first one or two characters of a registration are a nationality mark set by ICAO. N is the United States, G the United Kingdom, D Germany, F France, JA Japan, VH Australia, B China (with B-H Hong Kong and B-M Macau). Enter any tail number above and the country is matched from its prefix.
Methodology: Registration prefixes are nationality marks defined under ICAO Annex 7, originating from ITU radio call-sign allocations. This tool stores 180 current prefixes and identifies a tail number’s country by the longest matching prefix, so split allocations resolve correctly — B-M is read as Macau rather than China, and CC as Chile rather than Canada. Shared or split blocks (B, F-O, HB) are flagged in the result. It maps the prefix to a country only; it does not query a live aircraft registry, so it won’t tell you the specific aircraft or operator. How we test & calculate.
The last thing on the plane you couldn’t decode
You can already look up the airport code on your boarding pass, the airline’s code, and the aircraft type. The registration painted on the fuselage is the one marking left — and its prefix quietly tells you which country the aircraft is registered in. That’s often a surprise: a jet flying for one country’s airline may be registered somewhere else entirely, because leasing and registration cross borders.
Why the letters look random
The marks come from 1920s radio call-signs, not country names, so only a few line up neatly — D really does stand for Deutschland, but N for the United States and G for the United Kingdom are historical accidents that stuck. When the modern system was standardised after 1944 the existing letters were kept, and they’ve barely changed since, which is exactly what makes a simple lookup like this reliable.
Reading a shared prefix
Most prefixes map to a single country, but a few are split. B is the interesting one: mainland China and Taiwan both use it, while Hong Kong and Macau are carved out as B-H and B-M. This tool always matches the longest prefix, so those resolve to the right place. Pair it with the aircraft type-code lookup to decode both what the plane is and where it’s from.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a registration prefix?
Every civil aircraft carries a unique registration — its “tail number” — and the first character or two is a nationality mark that identifies the country it’s registered in. N belongs to the United States, G to the United Kingdom, D to Germany, F to France, JA to Japan, VH to Australia, and so on. The rest of the registration identifies the individual aircraft within that country. The prefixes are set under ICAO Annex 7 and are derived from radio call-sign blocks the ITU allocated decades ago, which is why a few look unrelated to the country name.
Where is the tail number on a plane?
Despite the nickname, it isn’t only on the tail. It’s usually painted in large characters on the rear fuselage and/or across the tail fin, and often repeated in smaller form under a wing and on the nose-gear door. On most airliners the easiest place to read it is the back of the fuselage near the rear doors. Spotting it as you board, then checking the prefix here, tells you where the jet is registered — which isn’t always the airline’s home country, since aircraft are often leased from or registered in other states.
Why is the United States “N” and the United Kingdom “G”?
The marks trace back to the radio call-signs assigned to each country in the 1920s rather than to the country’s name, so they can seem arbitrary. The United States was allocated the N block, the United Kingdom G, Germany D (for Deutschland, one of the few that does match), France F, and Italy I. When international aviation standardised registration after 1944, these existing call-sign letters were carried over, and they’ve stayed remarkably stable ever since.
Why do some countries seem to share a prefix?
A handful of allocations are split or shared, and this tool notes them. The clearest example is B, which covers both mainland China and Taiwan, with Hong Kong distinguished as B-H and Macau as B-M. Switzerland and Liechtenstein share the HB block, and France uses F-O for aircraft based in its overseas territories rather than the mainland F series. In those cases the country shown is based on the longest matching prefix — so B-M is correctly read as Macau, not China.
How accurate and current is this list?
It covers 180 prefixes spanning essentially every country and territory with civil aircraft, taken from the ICAO nationality-mark register. Because the prefixes are a stable international standard, the mapping rarely changes — unlike fares or schedules, there’s nothing here that goes out of date week to week. The tool identifies the country from the prefix only; to look up the specific aircraft and its operator you’d use a live registry or flight-tracking service.