International Air Transport Association
The
International Air Transport Association is an
international trade organization of
airlines headquartered in
Montreal,
Quebec,
Canada.
IATA was formed just after World War II in
April 1945, in
Havana, Cuba. It is the successor to the
International Air Traffic Association, founded in
The Hague in 1919, the year of the world's first international scheduled services. At its founding, IATA had 57 members from 31 nations, mostly in Europe and North America. Today it has over 270 members from more than 140 nations in every part of the globe.
The main objective of the organisation is to assist airline companies to achieve lawful
competition and
uniformity in prices. For fare calculations IATA has divided the world in three regions:
#South and North America.#Europe, Middle East and Africa. IATA Europe includes the geographical Europe and the countries Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.#Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the islands of the Pacific Ocean.
To this end, airlines have been granted a special exemption by each of the main
regulatory authorities in the world to consult prices with each other through this body. However, the organization has been accused of acting as a
cartel, and many
low cost carriers are not full IATA members. The
European Union's competition authorities are currently investigating the body. In
2005 Neelie Kroes, the
European Commissioner for Competition, made a proposal to lift the exception to consult prices. In July
2006 the United States Department of Transportation also proposed to withdraw
antitrust immunity [
1]. IATA teamed with
Sita for an electronic ticketing solution [
2].
IATA assigns 3-letter
IATA Airport Codes and 2-letter
IATA Airline Designators, which are commonly used worldwide.
ICAO also assigns airport and airline codes. For
Rail&Fly systems IATA also assigns
IATA train station codes.
IATA is pivotal in the worldwide accreditation of
travel agents (with exception of the
U.S., where this is done by the
Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC) although for practical purposes this, and giving permission to sell
airline tickets from the participating carriers, is achieved through national member organisations.
They also regulate the shipping of
dangerous goods and publish the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations manual, a globally accepted field source reference for airlines shipping
hazardous materials.
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IATAN*
ATA (Air Transport Association of America)
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Flight planning*
Kenneth Beaumont*
Moving associations*
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)
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International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading*
International Air Transport Association web site*
Distribution of IATA Documents
