IATA (International Air Transport Association)
IATA is an international trade body, created some 60 years ago by a group of airlines. Today, IATA represents some 230 airlines comprising 93% of scheduled international air traffic. The organisation also represents, leads and serves the airline industry in general.
IATA (International Air Transport Association) was founded in Havana, Cuba, in April 1945. It is the prime vehicle for inter-airline cooperation in promoting safe, reliable, secure and economical air services - for the benefit of the world's consumers. The international scheduled air transport industry is now more than 100 times larger than it was in 1945. Few industries can match the dynamism of that growth, which would have been much less spectacular without the standards, practices and procedures developed within IATA.At its founding, IATA had 57 members from 31 nations, mostly in Europe and North America. Today it has some 230 members from 126 nations in every part of the globe.IATA was involved in establishing a sound technical and legal framework for the operation of the world’s airlines. It organized the first worldwide Traffic Conference in 1947 which worked out agreements related to air fare construction rules for multi-sector travel. IATA is also the coordinator of Multilateral Interline Traffic Agreements that allows the member airlines around the world to accept each others ticket.
The modern IATA 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.