Universal Postal Union strengthens ties with airline industry

The Universal Postal Union has signed a new partnership agreement with the International Air Transport Association to work on various air mail safety initiatives together. 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 Posts continue to rely on airlines to provide fast, reliable services.

The UN-affiliated UPU said the partnership agreement was signed last month, as a “solid platform” for launching joint initiatives with the IATA.

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, Posts are seeing growing demand for cross-border mail and particularly parcel shipments, with consumers shopping online on foreign websites.

Akhilesh Mathur, “The UPU’s supply chain coordinator, said: Endorsing and promoting safety and security in postal air transport is one of the key issues in the new agreement. Growing international parcel traffic, driven by e-commerce, is set to create major challenges for Posts and air transport operators alike.”

The Berne-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 Montreal-based IATA have been working together in one shape or another since 1956. The new agreement succeeds the agreement signed back in March 2007.