IATA - The International Air Transport Association -

Introduction

IATA - The 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.

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.

Early Days

The old IATA was able to start small and grow gradually. It was also limited to a European dimension until 1939 when Pan American joined. The post-1945 IATA immediately had to handle worldwide responsibilities with a more systematic organisation and a larger infrastructure.

This was reflected in the 1945 Articles of Association and a much more precise definition of IATA's aims than had existed before 1939.

To promote safe, regular and economical air transport for the benefit of the peoples of the world, to foster air commerce, and to study the problems connected therewith;

To provide means for collaboration among the air transport enterprises engaged directly or indirectly in international air transport service;

To cooperate with the newly created International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO - the specialised United Nations agency for civil aviation) and other international organisations.

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