IATA Inter-Carrier Agreement and IATA Measures of Implementation Agreement

In 1995, at the urging of the Department of Trans­portation, discussions were initiated between for­eign and U. S. carriers under the auspices of IATA and ATA, to reach voluntary agreement to waive the limitations of liability set out in Warsaw. Later that year, these carriers signed the IATA Inter-Carrier Agreement (IIA) that committed the airlines to take action to waive the limitation of liability provisions of the Warsaw Convention. In 1996, the second step was taken when many of

them signed the IATA Measures of Implementa­tion Agreement (MIA), which waived the War­saw limitations up to 100,000 Special Drawing Rights (SDRs). SDRs are monetary units repre­senting an artificial “basket” currency developed by the International Monetary Fund to replace gold as a world standard. Recently 100,000 SDRs represented approximately $130,000. By the mid­dle of the year 2000, 122 international carriers, comprising more than 90 percent of the world’s air transport industry, had signed IIA, with most of those also signing MIA. The effect of these developments was that any international passen­ger who qualified would have an absolute right to receive a payment of approximately $130,000 regardless of airline fault.