EDI Resource Center

IATA Cargo-IMP

IATA Cargo-IMP stands for International Air Transport Association Cargo Interchange Message Procedures. It's an EDI standard based on EDIFACT created to automate and standardize data exchange between airlines and other parties.

IATA's Cargo-IMP is the legacy standard for exchanging critical cargo operations information. But IATA stopped supporting Cargo-IMP after the 34th edition in 2014. The purpose of this was to utterly focus on extending Cargo Extensible Markup Language (Cargo-XML), a new modern messaging format.

Cargo-XML facilitates cargo business processes, fulfills custom requirements for Advanced Cargo Information (ACI) filing, and complies with security regulations like e-CSD. This new format ultimately helps the air cargo industry to move towards improving its processes by digitalization across the entire supply chain.

Nevertheless, Cargo-IMP is still widely used for electronic messaging in the industry regardless of the lack of enhancement from IATA. The migration from the legacy Cargo-IMP format to Cargo-XML is ongoing.

Industries Using IATA Cargo-IMP

  • Airlines and aviation

Types of IATA Cargo-IMP Transactions

IATA Cargo-IMP designates procedures for automating the exchange of space allocation, air waybill, flight manifest, accounting, status, discrepancy, embargo, customs, CASS billing, dangerous goods, allotments and surface transportation.

Age

Originally created in 1983 Refined in 1996 and updated to use UN/EDIFACT standard transactions

Governing Body

  • Jointly developed by IATA, its member airlines and Airlines for America (A4A)
  • It's also endorsed by the Cargo Committee, the Cargo Services and the Cargo Agency Conferences

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is the trade association for the world's airlines, representing some 290 airlines or 82% of total air traffic.

Airlines for America (A4A) advocates on behalf of its members to shape crucial policies and measures that promote safety, security and a healthy U.S. airline industry.

Cargo-IMP Transactions List