The IATA – FIATA Air Cargo Program, signed on 18th June 2016 by Tony Tyler, the IATA chief executive and Huxiang Zhao, the FIATA president, moves decision-making on the rules governing the airline-forwarder relationship away from an airline-led conference to a governance body, the IATA-FIATA Governance Board (IFGB). This will be jointly managed by forwarders and airlines, to reflect current market conditions.
The changes display the evolution of IATA cargo agents and forwarders from being classed as ‘selling-agents’ for airlines into ‘purchasing customers’ and targets to involve freight forwarders as coequal partners in the decision making process.
IATA senior vice president, financial and distribution services, Aleks Popovich, said that the new jointly-managed air cargo program was “the result of four years of hard work to modernize the relationship between freight forwarders and airlines".
"The IFACP also provides a structure to ensure that industry standards are relevant, pragmatic and fit for purpose. These standards cover the agreement of freight forwarders and more broadly the safe, secure and efficient transportation of air cargo shipments”, Popovich added.