Fact Sheet - IATA Clearing House

• Interline agreements make it possible for passengers and freight-shippers to purchase multi-sector journeys involving transportation on any number of different airlines
• The IATA Clearing House (ICH) enables the world's airlines and airline-associated companies to settle their interline billings securely, efficiently and on-time
• ICH reduces hundreds of bilateral, multi-currency transactions to one single payable or receivable amount 
• More than 475 airlines and associates settle their accounts on a weekly basis
• 68% of these are settled through the netting process
• They require no movement of funds
• They ensure improved credit risk management, and
• They provide protection against exchange rate movements 
• Each participant is able to collect its dues promptly from the ticketing airline and airline-associated companies
• Settlement effectiveness is over 99.98%
• ICH settles nearly $49.5 billion in interline and service transactions each year
• In 2011 the average period between interline billing transaction and its settlement was 12 days
• IATA’s financial systems processed about $367 billion during 2011
• IATA Clearing House—$49.5 billion
• IATA Currency Clearing Service — $34.7 billion
• Billing and Settlement Plan (BSP) — $249.4 billion
• Cargo Account Settlement Systems (CASS) — $33.4 billion 

Updated: December 2012