The new IATA FIATA Air Cargo Program has been launched in Canada, replacing the existing Cargo Agency Program.

According to IATA and FIATA, the new programme, which will be jointly managed by forwarders and airlines as equal partners, will be rolled out globally after the Canadian pilot.

A new IATA-FIATA governance board has been established to, providing a framework of relevant industry standards that are in line with best practices and safety regulations.

“Simplifying the governance structure reduces the administrative requirement to manage the programme,” said Juan Antonio Rodriguez, director of FDS operations at IATA. “Given that more than 80% of transactions are performed by freight forwarders acting as principals, the proposed IFACP better clarifies and validates the business through a buyer-seller relationship.”

He added that the IFACP properly addresses the principal-to-principal relationship between freight forwarders and airlines, and is expected to help clarify liability issues on cargo claims, as well as support members to work towards key industry goals such as e-freight adoption.

The new IFACP Freight Forwarder Agreement will govern the relationship between freight forwarders and air carriers participating in the programme. Existing Cargo Agency Program members will join IFACP with no further assessment and will continue to be enrolled in Cargo Account Settlement Systems, which will remain unchanged, once they have signed and returned a new agreement. New applicants will need to submit a form and meet the defined financial and operational criteria.

“FIATA is pleased that the implementation phase is now a reality, a true testament to the hard work and sustained efforts of both forwarders and carriers over the past few years,” said Keshav Tanna, incoming chairman of FIATA’s Air Freight Institute. “We are optimistic that the IFACP will foster innovation to deal with the commercial challenges facing the air cargo industry.”

IATA airline members will automatically transfer to the new programme on the date on which IATA declares IFACP effective in any given region or country.

Canada is the first territory to pilot the new programme, which was announced in July 2016 and was developed to meet the evolving needs of the air cargo industry. In the past, cargo agents were “selling agents” for, and on behalf of, airlines, whereas today the majority of forwarders are “purchasing customers” from those airlines. This means that their business relationship is often as buyer and seller.

“Our relatively small, well-connected airline and forwarder community makes Canada a natural for the IFACP pilot country,” said Ruth Snowden, executive director of the Canadian International Freight Forwarders Association. “We are pleased that Canada is the first to engage in this new, collaborative program, which better reflects the reality of today’s current principal to principal relationship between airlines and forwarders.”