International Air Transport Association

OST-2008-0047 - Agreements Adopted by the Passenger Services Conference

Application for Approval of Agreements

The agreement for which approval in sought, along with related factual and explanatory materials and documentation required by 14 C.F.R. § 303.31 and applicable decisions of the Department, are set forth in the Appendix to this Application. This agreement arises from the continuing process of the Passenger Services Conferences through which IATA Member airlines establish standardized facilitation arrangements intended to ease international air transportation and interline procedures.

The present agreement, as detailed more fully below, was developed in the context of prior rulings of the Department addressing related agreements that reflected regulatory and market conditions then in effect. This agreement, which revises, rationalizes, simplifies and makes amendments to the framework agreements forming the charter for ongoing facilitation programs, is part of a dynamic process of IATA Member airline adjustment to changing governmental and economic requirements.

On previous occasions, the Department has found IATA framework agreements like this agreement to be consistent with the public interest. The present agreement is comparable to agreements previously approved, and is not adverse to the public interest. The present agreement, which aims at both consumer-friendly notices for airline passengers and compliance with the regulatory requirements of regulators worldwide, clearly reflects compromises among the differing economic and social philosophies of the many nations whose airlines are its parties. Maintaining good aviation relations with those other nations is among the public interests that approval of this agreement will advance.

This agreement builds on the revision of the "Notice of Liability Limitations ‑­ Neutral Air Carrier Liability for Passengers and their Baggage" adopted by the IATA Passenger Service Conference (as Resolution 724c), submitted to the Department on October 17, 2005 and approved on June 9, 2006 in Docket OST-2005-22744 by Order 2006-6-5. The liability notice approved in Order 2006-6-5 established "a neutral ticket notice designed for worldwide use that reflects carrier liability limitations for passenger deaths and injuries, and for baggage, under the Montreal Convention, which came into effect on November 4, 2003."

Counsel: IATA, Douglas Lavin, 202-628-9292