The UPU, which represents 192 of the world’s postal administrations, said better cooperation with the IATA, which comprises 240 of the world’s airlines, will mean improving service levels for both sectors as postal companies continue to rely on airlines to provide faster and reliable services, postandparcel.info reports.
The agreement comes as the airline industry faces increasing security issues and a growing need to guard against the possibility of explosive or incendiary devices being inserted into air mail. At the same time, postal companies are seeing growing demand for cross-border mail and particularly parcel shipments, with consumers shopping online on foreign websites.
The Swiss-based UPU said that its memorandum of understanding with the IATA would also see the two organisations working on automating the processes for sharing electronic data related to mail transport. It could save on time and costs by reducing redundancies in the submission of data.
The two organisations will also work on improving the settlement procedures for mail transport, the UPU said. The UPU and the Canada-based IATA have been working together in one shape or another since 1956. The new agreement succeeds the agreement signed back in March 2007.
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