 At the Stevens Hotel in Chicago, the first international conference on post-war aviation opens. Many and varied are the questions to be discussed by the arriving delegates of 51 different countries. Chief among these questions is the future freedom of the world air transportation route. This is the Chicago Convention of 1944, the first civil aviation agreement in the world. The rules governing the aviation industry for over 70 years are contained in its 61 pages, minus the funky signatures. So, the end of World War II, civil and commercial aviation sores. As larger and heavier, ex-military aircraft start to transport people and cargo across oceans. The skies have never been so busy, and the transatlantic is now the world's most traveled air route. Of course, this calls for some type of regulation. So, the Chicago Convention decides to establish the main industry regulator, the International Civil Aviation Organization, or ICAO. It will become a United Nations agency that will control how the agreements are carried out by the countries. Over the course of the following years, the ICAO has decided basically every rule and standard applied to civil aviation. Now, a lot is happening in the air at this time, and while the ICAO is drafting its first addition of standards and recommended practices for governments, airlines in these countries are already running scheduled flights that are not really supervised by anyone. As you might imagine, the prices are pretty chaotic too. So, to regulate airlines and tackle all commercial aviation problems, IATA is created. IATA, or International Air Transport Association, is formed in 1945 to help ICAO answer some technical questions, like how to make prices and rates more predictable and cheaper, and how to divide revenue from interlining journeys. The rates and fares issues are very sensitive at the time, and most of them are addressed at the first traffic conference organized by IATA in 1947. The attending airlines reach agreement on 400 resolutions concerning all things air travel, fare calculations, revenue allocation, baggage rules, and even ticket design, unprecedented unity in the post-war world. From that time on, these traffic conferences are regularly held in different parts of the world and soon transform into general meetings, which is how they function now. An annual general meeting is a big deal. The last meeting in 2019 was held in Seoul and hosted by Korean Airlines. It was opened by Korean and EU officials, followed by an annual report and panel discussions. That's like the main aviation event to visit if you're an airline. And this is a good segue into the modern era and a discussion of what IATA does now. Today, IATA members are some 290 airlines from 120 countries, about 82% of all scheduled air traffic. This of course doesn't mean that IATA regulations concern only the contracted airlines. Even if you're not signed up with IATA, but want to distribute tickets or run interline flights, it will control you. How so? First, by using IATA codes, universally accepted designators required for reservations, schedules, ticketing, documentation, and basically everywhere the information about the airline or its flight is shared. This two-character identifier is one of the industry's pillars. Used everywhere and by everyone. You must get one, even if you're not an IATA member. Second, all accounting documents used in ticketing and transaction operations use IATA accounting or prefix codes. They are absolutely integral for computer systems to identify your passengers and cargo. Third, IATA grants baggage tag issuer codes. Ten-digit numbers printed on bag tags for easier baggage handling at airports. IATA also issues location codes used by airports and sometimes rail or ferry stations, if we're talking about intermodal journeys. Yes, IATA loves their codes, but it's more than just codes. IATA is comprised of airlines and exists for airlines. See its board of governors. All members are representatives of airlines. Same with the advisory councils that actually set standards for IATA members and hold them accountable for security measures and environmental impact. This means that being an IATA member is like being recognized as part of the industry. IATA also represents their interests by lobbying for airline operations campaigns. A recent success is the gradual spreading of NDC solutions. The new distribution capability program was launched by IATA to help airlines distribute their services without limitations and control what type of content is shared on booking websites. Now it's supported by all GDSs, 65 airlines, and 58 tech solutions providers, largely thanks to IATA's education on the topic. And it's not only training travel professionals, but also serving as a one-stop shop for airlines with its software solutions and consulting services. They've earned the right to say, nobody understands aviation better than IATA. IATA also controls the commercial side of aviation. It decides who can distribute what. For that, it needs to oversee travel agencies as well, using, you guessed it, codes. Walk-in travel agencies started distributing flights back in the 1920s, acting as a clearinghouse, the third party between traveler and airline, responsible for a smooth transaction. When IATA appeared, it decided to take these relationships under control and introduced the accreditation. A travel agent accreditation exists to protect the airlines and regulate the flow of revenue. This means that to get access to airline inventories, agents must be checked by IATA. Then airlines won't have to run a background check when connecting to a new distributor. If they have an IATA ID, they're good to partner with. IATA also processes all sales reports between agents and airlines via its billing and settlement software. You can run an agency without an accreditation using someone else's ID. Airline consolidators or bigger agencies allow independent agents and smaller OTAs to use their IATA ID on contracted conditions without paying an application fee and going through the whole approval process. Those were some of the basics of why the industry needs IATA and how it made itself so needed. That doesn't mean that its initiatives are always celebrated by the industry. In 2015, IATA released new size guidelines for carry-on bags called Cabin OK. It proposed that all airlines use the same standard for cabin luggage. Not a bad idea by itself, right? It was, until the new size was revealed. It was significantly smaller than most airlines allowed. Passengers would have had to buy new suitcases, a huge blow to customer experience. Basically they're asking you to bring a briefcase with your clothes in it. Pretty small. I mean they're not big now. Bad idea, boo. IATA answered the backlash proposing that bags with new sizes should be produced with a special Cabin OK badge, which would give them priority if the cabin is filled to the brim and some bags have to be moved to the luggage compartment. IATA paused the program in a few days to reassess the guidelines, which have yet to be released. But what is it doing right? What's happening at those general meetings every year? What are IATA's goals and priorities? Well, first, it's your main source for the current and future aviation climate. Want to know where the commercial aviation industry is going? Check with IATA. Even the bag size situation shows there's still a problem to be addressed. Every December, IATA publishes a list of priorities for the year ahead. In 2019, its focus has been on a few big points, growing NDC adoption, bringing RFID technologies to 14 airports, attracting more low-cost carriers as members, cutting airport costs, and building a wider air travel infrastructure in all regions of the world. Knowing its service record, IATA is likely to achieve these goals.