On 30 January 2020, UIC and IATA, the International Air Transport Association, signed a Memorandum of Understanding. The objective is to promote innovation while preserving intellectual property between UIC member railways and IATA airline companies.
IATA is the trade association for the world’s airlines, representing some 290 airlines or 82% of total air traffic. It supports many areas of aviation activity and helps formulate industry policy on critical aviation issues. Its mission is also to represent, lead, and serve the airline industry.
It improves understanding of the air transport industry among decision-makers and increases awareness of the benefits that aviation brings to national and global economies. Advocating for the interests of airlines across the globe, IATA challenges unreasonable rules and charges, holds regulators and governments to account, and strives for sensible regulation.
For 75 years, it has developed global commercial standards upon which the air transport industry is built. IATA’s aim is to assist airlines by simplifying processes and increasing passenger convenience while reducing costs and improving efficiency.
IATA helps airlines to operate safely, securely, efficiently, and economically under clearly defined rules. Professional support is provided to all industry stakeholders with a wide range of products and expert services.
In a similar way as IATA is for the airlines, UIC is for the railways the worldwide professional association representing the railway sector and promoting rail transport.
Mr Alexandre de Juniac, Director General and CEO of IATA, said: “As customers increasingly seek sustainable travel options, it is important that providers work together to provide seamless exchanges of passengers and passenger information. IATA has extensive experience in facilitating standards development to support intramodality and our MoU with UIC is an important step toward strengthening this activity.”
Mr François Davenne, UIC Director General, said: “This MoU confirms the desire to really promote multimodality. Offering customers a single ticket for rail and air travel gives them the opportunity to choose the best of both worlds by optimising their journey as well as their carbon footprint. In addition, both IATA and UIC are currently developing tomorrow’s digital standards for ticketing applications: to work on established interfaces right from the design phase is an exciting prospect.”
UIC’s mission is to promote rail transport at world level with the objective of optimally meeting current and future challenges of mobility and sustainable development, to promote interoperability, to create new world IRSs (International Railway Solution) for railways (including common solutions with other transport modes), and to develop and facilitate all forms of international cooperation among members, facilitate the sharing of best practice (benchmarking).
UIC supports its members in their efforts to develop new business and new areas of activities and proposes new ways to improve technical and environmental performance of rail transport, improve competitiveness, reduce costs.
UIC has been informed of the activities carried out by IATA in this sector and, in particular, of the activities related to Passenger Ticketing. This Memorandum of Understanding will enable common activities to be carried out for the promotion of activities of common interest.
UIC is confident this opportunity will help to advance the innovation community as well as the business efficiency of UIC members.
