The Founding of IATA

IATA was founded in Havana, Cuba, on 19 April 1945. It is the prime vehicle for  inter-airline cooperation in promoting safe, reliable, secure and economical  air services - for the benefit of the world's consumers. The international  scheduled air transport industry is more than 100 times larger than it was in 1945. Few industries can match the dynamism of that growth, which  would have been much less spectacular without the standards, practices and procedures developed within IATA.

At its founding, IATA had 57 members from 31 nations, mostly in Europe and North America. Today it has some 290 members from 120 nations in every part of the globe.

In April 2019, we celebrated 74 years of working together with our member airlines to make aviation the business of freedom.

The modern IATA is the successor to the International  Air Traffic Association founded in the Hague in 1919 - the year of the  world's first international scheduled services.  

Next: Early Days