“What you need to know about air waybills
What is an air waybill?
An air waybill is a receipt document issued by an airline or its authorised agent. It indicates that there is a contract of carriage between the airline and the sender of the goods for the transport of the goods from the place of origin (the sender’s airport) to the consignee’s airport or designated place. An air waybill is a straightforward, non-negotiable document containing 11 digits with a detailed description of the goods. Other important information included on the waybill is the sender’s name and address, the location and address of the goods, the type, quantity and weight of the goods, the place of loading, the date of loading, the cost of transportation, the date of payment at the place and the declared value of the goods.
The function of the air waybill
Air waybill has many functions, including:
Evidence that the airline received the cargo
Contact information of all parties
contract of carriage between shipper and carrier
freight bill
customs declaration
product description
Guidelines for Handling and Delivering Goods
cargo tracking
Second, the classification of air waybill
Air waybill is mainly divided into two categories:
(1) Master Air Waybill (MAWB, Master Air Waybill) Any air waybill issued by an air transport company is called a master waybill.
It is the basis for the air transport company to handle the transportation and delivery of goods, and it is the transportation contract concluded between the airline and the shipper. Each batch of air transported goods has its own corresponding air waybill.
(2) Air waybill (HAWB, House Air Waybill) The air waybill issued by the centralized shipper when handling the centralized consignment business is called the air waybill.
In the case of centralized consignment, in addition to the main air waybill issued by the air transport company, the centralized shipper should also issue an air waybill. The relationship between the parties at this time is shown in the figure.
In the middle, the air waybill is used as the cargo transportation contract between the centralized shipper and the shipper, and the two parties to the contract are cargo A, B and the centralized shipper respectively; and the air master waybill is used as the cargo between the air transport company and the centralized shipper. In the contract of carriage, the parties are the centralized shipper and the air transport company. The cargo owner has no direct contractual relationship with the air carrier.
Not only that, because the goods are delivered by the centralized shipper to the air transportation company at the place of departure, and the goods are picked up by the centralized shipper or its agent from the air transportation company at the destination, and then handed over to the consignee, so the owner and the air transportation company There is also no direct cargo handover relationship.
3. Contents of Air Waybill Similar to ocean bill of lading, air waybill also has front and back clauses. Different airlines will also have their own unique air waybill format.
The difference is that the ocean bills of lading of shipping companies may be very different, but most of the air waybills used by airlines are based on the standard format recommended by IATA, and the difference is not big. So we only introduce this standard format here, also known as the neutral waybill. The fields to be filled in are described below:
1. Departure station airport: You need to fill in the three-character code of the departure station airport or city uniformly formulated by IATA. This column should be consistent with column 11.
1A: The airline code uniformly compiled by IATA, such as my country’s international airline code is 999; 1B: waybill number.
2. Shipper|s Name and Address: Fill in the shipper’s name, address, country and contact information.
3. Shipper account number: fill in only when necessary.
4. Consignee|s Name and Address: The name, address, country and contact information of the consignee should be filled in. Unlike ocean bills of lading, because air waybills are not negotiable, words such as “”by instructions”” must not appear.
5. Consignee account number: same as column 3, fill in only when necessary.
6. The name and city of the carrier’s agent (Issuing Carrier|s AgentName and City).
7. The IATA code of the agent.
8. Agent account number.
9. Departure station Airport and requested route (Airport of Departure and Requested routing): The departure station here should be the same as that filled in column 1.
10. Payment Information (Accounting Information): This column is only filled in when a special payment method is used.
11A (C, E). To (To): Fill in the IATA code of the first (second, third) transfer station airport respectively.
11B (D, F). Carrier (By): fill in the carrier of the first (two, three) paragraphs respectively.
12. Currency: Fill in the ISO currency code.
13. Charge code: indicate the payment method.
14. Freight and declared value charge (WT/VAL, weight charge/valuation charge): There are two cases at this time: prepaid (PPD, Prepaid) or collect (COLL collect). If prepaid, fill in “”*”” in 14A, otherwise fill in 14 days. It should be noted that the payment method of freight and declared value fee in air cargo transportation must be consistent and cannot be paid separately.
15. Other: There are also two payment methods: prepayment and cash on delivery.
16. Declared Value for Carriage: Fill in the declared value for shipping required by the shipper in this column. If the shipper does not require a declared value, fill in “”NVD(No value declared)””.
17. Declared Value for Customs: The consignor fills in the declared value for customs here, or fills in “”NCV (No customs valuation)””, indicating that there is no declared value.
18. Airport of Destination: Fill in the full name of the final destination airport.
19. Flight/Date: Fill in the flight and date of the cargo.
20. Amount of Insurance: Fill in only when the airline provides insurance services and the customer also needs it.
21. Handling Information: generally fill in the notices about the handling of the goods by the carrier, such as “”Shipper|s certification for live animals”” and so on.
22A–22L freight price, freight details.
22A. No. of Pieces RCP, Rate Combination Point: Fill in the number of packages of goods. Such as 10 packs, fill in “”10″”. When it is necessary to form the proportion of the freight rate or add the freight rate in stages, fill in the IATA code of the airport of the freight rate composition point in this column.
22B. Gross Weight: Enter the total gross weight of the goods.
22C. Weight unit: choose kilograms (kg) or pounds (lb).
22D. Rate Class: There are 6 codes for different air freight rates, they are M (Minimum, minimum freight), C (Specific Commodity Rates, special freight rate), S (Surcharge, higher than ordinary goods) The freight rate is the freight rate of grade goods), R (Reduced, the freight rate of grade goods lower than the freight rate of ordinary goods), N (Normal, the freight rate of ordinary goods applicable to goods under 45 kg), Q (Quantity, the freight of goods over 45 kg) applicable general cargo rates).
22E. Commodity Item No.: When using special tariffs, you need to fill in the commodity code in this column.
22F. Chargeable Weight: In this column, fill in the chargeable weight based on which the airline calculates the freight. The weight can be the same or different from the gross weight of the goods.
Electronic Air Waybill
The electronic air waybill (e-air waybill or e-AWB) was introduced in 2010 and became the default contract of carriage for all air cargo on January 1, 2019. Paper air waybill documents are still accepted. The electronic version requires and conveys the same information as the paper version.
Freight shipments require a fair amount of paper for each shipment, which means that paper has to be tracked and dispatched. Storing documents electronically keeps things safe and organized and reduces the need for paper.”
