The way air exports are conducted in the future could change following the new agreement between the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the International Federation of Freight Forwarders Association (FIATA).
This IATA-FIATA Air Cargo Programme (IFACP) will replace the IATA Cargo Agency Programme, which was set up to manage relationships between airlines and sales clients.
Senior vice president of financial and distribution services at IATA Aleks Popovich said: “The IFACP also provides a framework to ensure that industry standards are relevant, pragmatic and fit for purpose.”
He went on to say the standards “cover the endorsement of freight forwarders and more broadly the safe, secure and efficient transport of air cargo shipments”.
The difference between the old and new programme is decisions regarding the airline-forwarder relationship will now be made by the IATA-FIATA Governance Board (IFGB), made up of forwarders and airlines equally, instead of in an airline-led conference.
The rollout of the IFACP will be staggered, beginning in Canada first in early 2017.
From there, it will be introduced on a global scale the following year. It is expected that the process will be finished by the end of 2018, by which time air freight services will be managed entirely by the IFACP.
This programme is being launched just after it was reported that levels of air freight in the UK have increased recently.
According to Insider Media, 103,437 tonnes of freight from Manchester Airport was shipped by air in 2015-16, which is the highest figure since 2011-12 when it dealt with 106,438 tonnes.