Purpose

Strategic Partners can gain a deeper understanding of how to best serve the industry through collaboration with airlines in the development and evolution of Plan Standards. This includes standards that support airline partnerships, product management, and industry information exchange, enabling the industry's transformation toward Offers and Orders and next-generation commercial collaboration models.

Plan Standards Strategic Partnerships Summary

The Plan Standards Strategic Partnership Area of Involvement focuses on the development and evolution of standards that support airline planning, partnership collaboration, product management, and industry information exchange. The Plan Standards Board manages standards governing how airlines and other industry participants define, communicate, and exchange information related to products, services, and associated reference data. This includes standards that support airline partnerships, product management, and modern retailing initiatives, contributing to the industry's transition toward Offers and Orders. 

The Board is also responsible for foundational planning and operational standards that enable the efficient coordination of global air transport, including schedule publication, slot messaging, minimum connect times, and industry coding standards. Together, these standards support both the current aviation ecosystem and the industry's ongoing transformation toward future business and operational models. 

Plan Standards Benefits

> More information is available on the Strategic Partnerships Program Benefits page

Plan Standards Activities

The Plan Standards Board is one of the five management boards established by Resolution 009 under the Passenger Standards Conference, which combines the activity of the Passenger Services Conference and Passenger Tariffs Conferences. The Passenger Standards brochure (pdf) outlines the Conference structure as well as standards adoption and development procedures. 

Each Management Board is an airline-only group overseeing the strategy and direction of standards development and implementation within a specific business domain. The Board has the autonomy to create and disband groups to work on specific areas of standards. Each Board will also have an Advisory Forum, where senior delegates from key stakeholders can meet with Board member airlines to discuss issues around standards development and implementation. 

The Plan Standards Board oversees standards touching many areas of distribution and will establish Working Groups to develop proposals for standards touching business process and data exchange in these areas: 

  • Airline Product Management 
  • Interline and Partnerships Commercial Frameworks 
  • Industry Coding 
  • Schedules Publication & Minimum Connect Time 
  • Slot Messaging 

Working groups under each Board may be created or disbanded by the Board at any time, but an up-to-date list of active groups is available online.  

Access to meetings and working groups are subject to individual group terms of references. 

Airline Product Management Working Group 

The Airline Product Management Working Group (APMWG) is responsible for matters relating to airline product management, including standard taxonomy, partner product communication, service attributes, lifecycle management, airline profiles, and product classification frameworks. In support of the industry's transition toward modern retailing and Offers and Orders, the group develops and maintains standards that enable the consistent definition, management, communication, and distribution of products and services across the airline ecosystem. 

Members of this group should have experience and involvement in one or more of the following areas: 

  • Offer creation and management; 
  • Product definition and product lifecycle management; 
  • Airline retailing and distribution; 
  • Product taxonomy and catalog management; 
  • Business or technical processes supporting product information exchange across airline partners. 

Interline & Partnerships Working Group  

The Interline & Partnerships Working Group (IPWG) focuses on standards-related matters concerning partnerships across the airline ecosystem, including interline, codeshare, intermodal, and broader third-party transportation partnerships, ensuring end-to-end integration in a modern retailing environment. Guided by the industry's transition toward Offers and Orders, the group develops and maintains the commercial frameworks, roles, responsibilities, and obligations that enable effective collaboration between airlines an its suppliers and partners. Through the evolution of standards such as the Standard Retailer-Supplier Interline Agreement (SRSIA), associated Recommended Practices, and multimodal partnership models, the IPWG provides industry stakeholders the opportunity to help shape the future of airline partnerships and interoperability. 

Members of this group should have experience and involvement in one or more of the following areas: 

  • Interline, codeshare, alliance, or partnership management 
  • Offers and Orders implementation and transformation initiatives 
  • Airline distribution, retailing, or commercial agreements 
  • Settlement, accounting, revenue management, or financial operations 
  • Disruption management, customer servicing, and passenger reaccommodation 
  • Technology platforms supporting airline retailing, distribution, interlining, or order management 
  • Product management, offer management, or supplier-retailer collaboration models 
  • Multimodal transportation, air-rail integration, or intermodal distribution. 

Industry Coding Working Group 

The Codes Group is responsible for the assignment and availability of industry codes for airline designators, accounting codes and prefixes, location Identifiers, baggage tag issuance codes (Resolutions 762, 763, 767 and 769) 

Explores changes to industry coding systems to support sustainability and evolving coding requirements while enabling Digital Identity to provide transformative future-proof solutions. 

Members of the group should have experience in areas touching industry coding regimes and systems such as scheduling, distribution, messaging and data exchange, industry affairs, interline and other business areas touching such code identifiers. 

Schedules Publication Working Group 

The Schedules Publication Group is responsible for matters concerning Airline schedule data standards and Minimum Connect Time (MCT), used by airlines, GDSs and supporting systems, including the associated business requirements for schedules creation/publication, distribution processes and formats maintained within the Standards Schedules Information Manual (SSIM). 

Recommends amendments to IATA codes in particular the Aircraft Types, Passenger Terminal Indicators, Region Codes and UTC-Local Time Comparisons while also manages Meal and Inflight Service codes and Service Type codes as part of the SSIM standards. 

Members of the group should have experience in day-to-day schedule publication processes with a strong knowledge of industry standards. 

Schedules Technology Standards Support Working Group 

The Schedules Data Exchange (SDEX) develops business requirements and maintains implementation guides for data exchange for Scheduling messaging standards (SSIM Chapters 4, 5, 7 & 8). 

Slot Messaging Working Group 

The Slot Messaging Group is responsible for matters concerning information exchange and standards related to Airport slot/schedule coordination between airlines, airport coordinators and facilitators maintained within the Standard Schedules Information Manual (SSIM). 

Members of the group should have experience in day-to-day slot management and technical administration including filing, reporting and schedule coordination. 

Slot Technology Standards Support Working Group 

The Slot Data Exchange (SLOTX) develops business requirements for data exchange and maintains implementation guides for Slot messaging standards between airport coordinators and airlines (SSIM Chapter 6). 

Focus Areas 

  • Airline product management 
  • Data exchange 
  • Interline processes

Designed For 

  • Airlines  
  • Travel management companies 
  • Online travel agencies 
  • Global Distribution Systems (GDSs) 
  • Technology providers