What is IATA

Has anyone heard of IATA?

Probably everybody .... because this organization plays an important role in air transportation. IATA is International Air Transport Association.

IATA was established on August 28, 1919 in the Hague (Netherlands) as an airline union under the name International Air Traffic Association. The successor was International Air Transport Association (IATA) established in April 1945 in Havana (Cuba). 

The Association serves as a coordinator and a representative of the air transport industry interests in such areas as safety, flight operations, tariff policy, maintenance, aviation security, development of international standards in conjunction with ICAO, etc. 

IATA assigns codes to airports, airlines and aircraft types for classification, develops samples of transportation documents, transportation conditions of passengers, mail, luggage and cargo, and negotiates tariffs. 

Also, one of the important tasks that IATA performs is the staff training of forwarding companies, as well as cargo owners whose activities are directly related to the organization of international air transport. The most common courses are IATA Cargo Introductory Course and Dangerous Goods Regulations (DGR). It is believed that obtaining these diplomas is an important part of professional activity. For cargo owners in Europe or the United States the presence of these diplomas is a confirmation of the employees’ qualification and work standards in this area.