International Air Transport Association

The International Air Transport Association (English International Air Transport Association or IATA) was founded in The Hague, Netherlands in the year 1919 and was founded by 57 members from 31 nations, mostly from Europe and North America. After several years of transition, it was relaunched for America and the world at the Chicago Convention of 1944 on December 7 and was finally modified a year later in October 1945 in Havana, Cuba. Currently, it includes some 290 airlines in 120 countries.

IATA is the instrument for cooperation between airlines, promoting safety, reliability, trust and economy in air transport for the economic benefit of its private shareholders. Any airline that has the possibility of operating a scheduled or non-scheduled international air service, and that is registered with IOSA (IATA Operational Safety Audit), can belong to IATA. Companies that only operate domestic flights can participate as associate members with voice but no vote.

Background

IATA was formed in April 1945 in Havana, Cuba. It is the successor to the International Air Traffic Association, which, in turn, was formed in 1919 in The Hague, the Netherlands. At its founding, IATA brought together 57 airlines from 31 countries, mainly European and North American. Much of IATA's early work was technical and provided input to the newly created International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which was reflected in the annexes to the Chicago Convention, the international treaty that still governs air transport navigation. international.

The Chicago Convention could not resolve the question of who flies where, yet this has led to thousands of bilateral air transport agreements in existence today. The reference standard for the first bilateral agreements was the Bermuda Agreement, between the United States and the United Kingdom, of 1946.

Aviation grew rapidly during the second half of the 20th century and IATA's work multiplied, expanding into big measure.

Priorities

Safety and reliability

Safety is the number one priority for IATA. The main instrument for safety is the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA). IOSA has also been run at the state level by several countries. In 2012, aviation recorded the safest year in its history. The overall accident rate for Western-built aircraft (measured in hull losses per million flights of Western-built aircraft) was 0.20, at one accident per 5 million flights.

Future enhancements will be based on data exchange with a database fed from a multitude of sources and hosted by the Global Security Information Center. In June 2014, IATA established a special panel to study measures to track aircraft in flight in real time. This decision was made as a result of the disappearance without trace of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 on March 8, 2014.

Safety and protection

Protection against possible attacks, both in airports and on aircraft in flight, has become increasingly important after the attacks of September 11, 2001. Following a series of regulations not coordinated by different countries, the industry has developed a Checkpoint of the Future, which is based on risk assessment and passenger differentiation.

Environment

IATA members and all aviation industry stakeholders have agreed to three sequential environmental objectives:

1. An average improvement in fuel efficiency of 1.5% per year between 2009 and 2020.
2. A cap on the net emissions of aviation carbon from 2020 (carbon neutral growth).
3. A 50 per cent reduction in net aviation carbon emissions by 2050 over 2005 levels.

At IATA's 69th annual general meeting in Cape Town, South Africa, members overwhelmingly endorsed a resolution on "Implementation of the Aviation Carbon-Neutral Growth Strategy (CNG2020)". The resolution provides governments with a set of principles on how governments could:

• Establish procedures for a single market-based measure (MBM).
• Integrate a single MBM as part of a package of measures to achieve the CNG2020.

IATA member airlines agreed that a single mandatory carbon offset scheme would be the simplest and most effective option for an MBM.

IATA Strategic Partners are aviation solution providers who, through their work with various IATA working groups, help build and maintain relationships with key industry stakeholders, working with IATA on its work to serve the air transport sector.

IATA Mission

Represent

IATA represents 290 airlines that translate into 94% of the regular international ticket offer, measured in offered seat-kilometres, equivalent to 82% of total world air traffic (passenger and cargo).

Leading

IATA seeks to help airlines by simplifying processes and increasing the convenience of the financial flow of their revenue while reducing costs and increasing efficiency.

Serve

IATA ensures people's movement around the globe with its airline network, as well as providing essential professional support and a range of expert products and services, such as publications, training and consultation.

IATA offers benefits to all parties involved in air commerce.

1. For consumers, IATA simplifies travel and transportation processes while maintaining low costs.
2. IATA allows airlines to operate safely, efficiently and economically, under defined rules.
3. IATA serves as an intermediary between passenger, freight agents and airlines.
4. A wide network of supplier industries and service providers see in IATA a solid supplier in a variety of industrial solutions.
5. For governments, IATA seeks to ensure that they are well informed of the complexities of the aviation industry.

Organization

The organization's headquarters are in Montreal with a second permanent office in Geneva. In addition, there are regional offices in Amman, Beijing, Johannesburg, Madrid, Miami, Moscow, Singapore and Washington, and 63 local offices in 60 countries.

IATA's supreme authority is exercised by the General Assembly made up of representatives of all active members who decide by majority on the basis of one vote per company. The General Meeting is held once a year and, among other things, the president of IATA is elected from among the representatives of the airlines.

The Governance Committee is the executive body and is made up of 30 members elected by the General Assembly. They are usually the representatives of the airlines with the highest volume of traffic in their geographical area.

Traffic Conferences

IATA divides the world into three areas or traffic conferences (TC)

Area 1 or TC1 America + Hawaii

Area 2 or TC2 Europe, Africa and the Middle East

Area 3 or TC3 Asia and Australasia

Each area is subdivided into subareas that, depending on the itinerary, will have different countries as members; For example, if the trip is within Area 1, the sub-areas will be North America, Central America, Caribbean/Antilles and South America, but if the trip is between Area 1 and Area 2, then the Americas sub-areas will be North Atlantic, Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic. To determine the member countries of each subarea, not only geographical aspects are taken into account, but also economic and cultural aspects.

To determine the rates to be applied, the global indicator (GI) codes are used depending on the route that the passenger's itinerary follows. Some of them are:

AT route via Transatlantic between TC1 and TC2

PA route via Transpacífico between TC1 and TC3

AP route via Transtlantic and also Transpacific between TC2 and TC3, via TC1

PO route via Transpolar between TC1 and TC2 via North Pole

SP route via Transpolar between TC1 and TC2 via South Pole

EH route entirely on TC2 or entirely on TC3 or between TC2 and TC3

TS route via Trans-Siberian between TC2 and TC3

WH path entirely within TC1

Activities

CASS Clearing House

Cargo Account Settlement Systems (CASS) is the Clearing House established by IATA to simplify billing and payment between airlines and freight forwarders or travel agencies. It started operating in 1947 and reports to the Finance Committee. It is a mechanism that allows the settlement of inter-company charges without the need for a physical movement of large sums. It is based in Geneva and has its own regulations, reporting directly to the General Director of IATA.

The Clearinghouse settles monthly in the currency chosen by the airline (US dollars, euros or sterling pounds) through the IATA exchange rate for that month, proceeding to a special settlement if the national currency of the company in question would have oscillated more than 10% with respect to the one chosen as reference.

BSP Bank Settlement Plan

Allows bank settlements of tickets and tickets between agencies and airlines from the same country or neighboring countries.

BAGTRAC baggage search system

Coordinates the recovery of lost baggage through a common data center located in Atlanta, having approved the format of a common identification card.

IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA)

It is a system of operational security audits recognized by ICAO that aims to standardize security levels in all airlines. Since 2010 it is a requirement to be a member of IATA.

Simplification of procedures

It is a program that aims to simplify the procedures necessary for air travel. In June 2008, the elimination of the paper ticket in favor of the electronic ticket was successfully completed.

The program also includes the installation of common automatic check-in points (CUSS), baggage handling improvements (BIP), which include technology initiatives such as radio frequency baggage identification (RFBI), the replacement of magnetic boarding by others based on barcodes (BCBP), elimination of the air waybill, replacing it with an electronic document (IATA e.Freight) and the Fast Travel Program that tries to make the possible so that the traveler self-manages their boarding procedures.

IATA code

The IATA airport code is a three-letter code that designates every airport in the world. These codes are decided by the International Air Transport Association (International Air Transport Association) IATA. The codes are not unique: 323 of the approximately 20,000 codes are used by more than one airport. The letters clearly displayed on the baggage tags used at the airport boarding tables are a sample of the use of these codes. BOG=Bogota.

IATA Members

From 57 founding members in 1945, IATA now represents 293 airlines in 120 countries. With 82% of the world's air traffic, IATA's members include the world's leading passenger and cargo airlines.

IATA membership is open to airlines operating scheduled and non-scheduled air services that maintain an IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) record.