Dhaka, May 3 -- Indian airline startup Air Kerala has moved a step closer to taking flight, announcing on Friday (May 2) that it has been assigned its official code by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

"The code we've been allocated is 'KD'," said Harish Kutty, CEO of the ultra-low-cost carrier. "This designation will be finalized once we secure our Air Operator Certificate (AOC)," he added.

IATA airline designators-commonly known as reservation codes-are two-character identifiers assigned to airlines worldwide. They typically consist of two letters or a combination of a letter and a number. For example, Air India operates under the code 'AI', while IndiGo uses '6E'.

"Receiving a two-letter code is considered a privil...