Common Use Strategic Partnerships Program

Common Use Strategic Partnerships Summary

With the speed of technological evolution and the introduction of biometric recognition, the transport industry, through its working groups, continuously develops and updates standards allowing airlines, airports and handling agents to process passengers using shared technology.

Common Use is a key foundation of any passenger experience improvement and it provides a seamless and secure way of handling functions like check-in, bag-drop, identity management, security access, and boarding process.

The Common Use Strategic Partnerships Area of Involvement enables participation in the IATA Delivery on Orders Working Group (DOWG). This WG maintains the Common Use and AIDX Standards and works on the development of new standards as the industry moves to the world of offers & orders under the Modern Airline Retailing program.

Benefits

• Liaise with other industry groups, including Airport Council International (ACI)
• Develop processes and technical standards as identified by the airline industry
• Develop implementation guides to reflect best practices
• Recommend all such standards to the industry via the Delivery on Orders Working Group (DOWG), the Travel Standards Board and the Passenger Services Conference

Activities

The Common Use Area of Involvement is currently developing standards in specific areas in relation to the following objectives:

Common Use Self-Services Task Force (CUSS-TF)
The CUSS-TF is responsible for RP1706c and for the maintenance of its Technical Specifications publication. The CUSS 1.5.1 is the latest supported version and the CUSS 2.x is under development. This Task Force reports to the Delivery on Orders Working Group (DOWG).

Common Use Web Services Task Force (CUWS-TF)
The CUWS-TF is responsible for RP1741- Common Use Web Services (CUWS) for Baggage and Passenger Conformance Services and standardized data exchange using web services technology. With the evolution of biometrics, the CUWS-TF is currently working on delivering a new set of Passenger Access Management Services throughout touchpoints, supporting standardized data exchange between each touchpoint and the host system. This Task Force reports to the Delivery on Orders Working Group (DOWG).

The Common Use Strategic Partnerships Area of Involvement is also responsible for the maintenance of the following standards and technical specifications:

Bar Coded Boarding Pass (BCBP) - Resolution 792 supports the boarding pass data elements of a machine-readable bar code format. The 2-dimensional bar code has the capacity to convey data on a wide range of devices (paper and mobile) to produce a boarding pass with encoded data.

Common Use Passenger Processing Systems (CUPPS) - RP 1797 and its Technical Specifications publication describe the range of services, specifications, and standards enacted to enable multiple airlines, and service providers to share physical check-in or gate podium positions (either simultaneously or consecutively). The CUPPS 1.04 is the latest version supported within the IATA standard.  

Aviation Information Data Exchange (AIDX) - RP 1797A is the global XML messaging standard for exchanging flight data between airlines, airports, and any third-party consuming operational data.

IATA Technical Peripheral Specifications (ITPS) specification describes all exchanges of Departure Control Systems (DCS) to device communications and all device responses supporting Boarding Pass Printer (ATB), Baggage Tag Printers (BTP), Boarding Gate Readers and Self-Boarding Gates (BGR and E-Gates), SBD (Self Baggage Drop) and SD (Scale Device). IATA Strategic Partners may purchase the ITPS publication at a preferential rate.

Focus Areas

• Common Use
• Self-Service
• Technology
• Data exchange

Designed for

• Web Services providers
• CUSS solution providers
• CUPPS solution providers
• E-Gates Providers  
• Self-service providers 
• Airports / Governments  

Please view the full list of Strategic Partnerships Program benefits (pdf).