Air transport is one of the most dynamic industries in the world. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is its global trade organization.

Over 60 years, IATA has developed the commercial standards that built a global industry. Today, IATA's mission is to represent, lead and serve the airline industry. Its members comprise some 230 airlines - the world's leading passenger and cargo airlines among them - representing 93 percent of scheduled international air traffic.

Representing

IATA seeks to improve understanding of the industry among decision makers and increase awareness of the benefits that aviation brings to national and global economies. It fights for the interests of airlines across the globe, challenging unreasonable rules and charges, holding regulators and governments to account, and striving for sensible regulation.

Leading

IATA's aim is to help airlines help themselves by simplifying processes and increasing passenger convenience while reducing costs and improving efficiency. The groundbreaking Simplifying the Business initiative is crucial in this area. Moreover, safety is IATA's number one priority, and IATA's goal is to continually improve safety standards, notably through IATAs Operational Safety Audit (IOSA). Another main concern is to minimize the impact of air transport on the environment.

Serving

IATA ensures that people and goods can move around the global airline network as easily as if they were on a single airline in a single country. In addition, it provides essential professional support to all industry stakeholders with a wide range of products and expert services, such as publications, training and consulting. IATA's financial systems also help carriers and the travel industry maximize revenues.

For the benefit for all parties involved:

­   -For consumers, IATA simplifies the travel and shipping processes, while keeping costs down. Passengers can make one telephone call to reserve a ticket, pay in one currency and then use the ticket on several airlines in several countries.

­   -IATA allows airlines to operate safely, securely, efficiently and economically under clearly defined rules.

­   -IATA serves as an intermediary between airlines and passenger as well as cargo agents via neutrally applied agency service standards and centralized financial systems.

­   -A large network of industry suppliers and service providers gathered by IATA provides solid expertise to airlines in a variety of industry solutions. 

­   -For governments, IATA seeks to ensure they are well informed about the complexities of the aviation industry to ensure better, long-term decisions.