IATA continues to provides simple, secure and effective financial solutions across the air transport industry. This includes the Billing and Settlement Plan (BSP) and Cargo Accounts Settlement Systems (CASS) which are designed to simplify engagements between airlines and their distribution partners – Accredited Travel agents and Freight forwarders respectively.
While currently across Africa and the Middle East there are BSP Operations in 43 countries and CASS Operations in 18 countries IATA continues to review the possible expansion and roll-out of the settlement solutions into the remaining countries within the region (23 countries without a BSP and 48 countries without a CASS) subject to a careful and through pre-assessment including prioritization guided by the IATA Members Airlines and both the Passenger Agency Conference (PAConf) and Cargo Agency Conferences (CAConf).
Deployment of a settlement system is done in accordance with the Passenger Agency Program and Cargo Agency Program that help regulate the airlines working relations with their respective distribution partners through Resolutions that form the basis of the industry distribution system.
The New IATA Settlement Systems (BSP and CASS) projects framework has four key stages with various critical milestones during each stage necessary for IATA internal validations and approvals for progression:
- Feasibility Study
- Business Case
- Pilot Phase Implementation
- Full Scale Implementation
Currently the following projects have been initiated by IATA:
- BSP Algeria
- BSP Angola
- BSP Cape Verde
- BSP Congo DRC
- BSP Madagascar
Including initial pre-assessments for:
- BSP Sierra Leone
- BSP Seychelles
