IATA – the International Air Transport Association is both the trade association for the airline industry and the governing body for airline standards. IATA was founded in Havana, Cuba in 1945 with 57 members from 31 countries. Today there are over 370 members from 120 countries.
IATA sets global operational standards for safety, security and financial systems, in addition to its role advocating for policies beneficial to the airline industry.
Members of IATA are exclusively airlines however, since 1990, suppliers to the industry have been able to join as “Strategic Partners” and participate in standards setting meetings, however without a vote.
Historically IATA also was where commercial standards were set and enforced. This included airline tariffs and even down to the number of olives on a salad in First Class. IATA operated in the early days with anti-trust immunity for this work but this ended gradually between 1980 and the early 2000s.
IATA sets operational standards for the airline industry. This includes ticketing systems, baggage handling, reservations and other important data exchange systems and platforms. These are managed by specialist committees and additions and revisions to IATA Standards must be reviewed and approved by their respective Conferences such as the Passenger Services Conference.
There are two levels of standards:
Resolutions are adopted by unanimous consent of the airlines and compliance is mandatory.
Recommended Practices required two-thirds (66.67%) affirmative vote of the voting members to adopt and compliance is recommended but not mandatory.
See What are the IATA Standards? for information specific to baggage.
IATA’s Clearinghouse is a global financial settlement service that allows airlines, associate members, and travel partners to simplify billings by offsetting and netting out their debts and credits, ensuring secure debt collection and currency clearance across the aviation industry.
IATA has 63 offices in 60 countries with its official headquarters in Montreal Canada as neighbour to ICAO – the International Civil Aviation Organisation, the UN body responsible for safety and security. The executive offices is in Geneva Switzerland with regional offices anchored in Miami, Brussels, Amman, Beijing, and Singapore.
