What is Cargo-IMP?
Cargo-IMP (Cargo Interchange Message Procedures) is IATA's long-standing standard for exchanging air cargo data between airlines, forwarders, and ground handlers using short Type B EDI text messages — such as the FWB (air waybill data), FFM (flight manifest), and FSU (status update). Its 34th edition, effective 1 January 2015, is the final one: IATA has frozen Cargo-IMP and steers the industry toward Cargo-XML and ONE Record.
Last updated · 26 Jun 2026
What Cargo-IMP is
Cargo-IMP stands for Cargo Interchange Message Procedures — IATA’s standard for message-switching between airlines, freight forwarders, and ground handlers. It is a Type B EDI format: terse, fixed-structure text messages, designed in an era of expensive, character-limited telecommunications and exchanged over the industry’s Type B messaging networks. Introduced in 1975, Cargo-IMP carried air cargo’s electronic communication for the better part of fifty years. The manual itself is published as Attachment ‘A’ to IATA Resolution 670.
Each message has a three-letter Standard Message Identifier (SMI). If you have ever seen a string beginning FWB/16 or FSU/9, you have seen Cargo-IMP.
The core message types
A handful of SMIs account for most traffic. The full names matter — several are commonly mis-stated:
| SMI | Full name | What it carries |
|---|---|---|
| FWB | Air Waybill Data | The full (master) air waybill — the message behind the e-AWB. |
| FFM | Airline Flight Manifest | The electronic flight manifest. |
| FSU | Status Update | Shipment status events (RCS, RCF, DEP, ARR, DLV, …). |
| FHL | Consolidation List | The house-manifest summary of the house waybills in a consolidation — not “house waybill data.” |
| FZB | House Waybill Data | The dedicated house air waybill (HAWB) message. |
| FFR | AWB Space Allocation Request | A booking request — not a “flight manifest report.” |
| FFA | Booking confirmation / answer | The reply to an FFR. |
| FSA | Status Answer | The detailed status specification that FSU defers to. |
| FNA | Error / rejection | A negative acknowledgement. |
Two of these are perennial sources of confusion: FHL is the Consolidation List (not house-waybill data — that’s FZB), and FFR is the space-allocation/booking request (not a flight manifest — that’s FFM).
A frozen standard
The defining fact about Cargo-IMP today is that it is finished. The 34th Edition, effective 1 January 2015, is the last and final edition — IATA confirmed there will be no further changes to Cargo-IMP messages, and that all future messaging development happens in Cargo-XML and ONE Record. Cargo-IMP is stable precisely because it is frozen: it won’t gain new fields, and the limits baked into its 1970s design — restricted character sets, message-size constraints, weak data typing — will never be fixed.
From Cargo-IMP to Cargo-XML to ONE Record
The migration path runs in two steps:
- Cargo-XML (introduced 2010) re-expresses the same messages in XML, lifting Cargo-IMP’s character-set, size, and data-type limits. Its messages are prefixed with an “X” — XFWB, XFHL, XFZB, XFSU — mapping one-to-one onto the Cargo-IMP originals.
- IATA ONE Record is the strategic endpoint. Instead of sending messages at all, parties share a single digital record of the shipment through a secured API. The Cargo Services Conference endorsed ONE Record as the preferred data-sharing standard effective 1 January 2026.
Why it still matters
Frozen does not mean gone. A large share of the world’s forwarders and handlers still send Cargo-IMP every day, and they will for years. That is the practical reality any modern cargo platform has to live with: you cannot force your partners to migrate on your timetable. The winning approach is to speak Cargo-IMP fluently while being ready for what’s next — Cargo-XML and ONE Record — so no partner is left behind and no migration is forced.
How Flaks handles Cargo-IMP
Flaks accepts, acknowledges, and answers the Cargo-IMP messages your partners already send — air waybills (FWB), manifests (FFM), status updates (FSU), consolidation lists (FHL), and house waybills (FZB) — automatically. At the same time it is ONE Record–native and Cargo-XML capable, so you can move modern partners onto shared data without dropping the legacy messages everyone else relies on. One system, every standard — see the API overview.
Cargo-IMP: FAQ
What is Cargo-IMP?
Cargo-IMP (Cargo Interchange Message Procedures) is IATA's legacy Type B EDI text-messaging standard for exchanging cargo data between airlines, forwarders, and handlers. The manual is published as Attachment 'A' to IATA Resolution 670.
Is Cargo-IMP still being updated?
No. The 34th edition, effective 1 January 2015, is the final, frozen edition. IATA confirmed there would be no further changes to Cargo-IMP messages and that future development moves to Cargo-XML and ONE Record.
What are the most common Cargo-IMP messages?
FWB (Air Waybill Data), FFM (Airline Flight Manifest), FSU (Status Update), FHL (Consolidation List), and FZB (House Waybill Data). Booking uses FFR (AWB Space Allocation Request) and its answer, FFA.
Does FHL mean 'house waybill data'?
No. FHL is the Consolidation List — the house-manifest summary of the house waybills in a consolidation. The dedicated House Waybill Data message is FZB. This is a common mix-up.
What replaces Cargo-IMP?
Cargo-XML, introduced in 2010, is the XML successor messaging standard, and the industry is moving further to IATA ONE Record, which the Cargo Services Conference endorsed as the preferred data-sharing standard effective 1 January 2026.
Is Cargo-IMP the same as an e-AWB?
No. Cargo-IMP is the messaging standard; the e-AWB is the legal electronic contract of carriage, which is carried using Cargo-IMP's FWB message (or the Cargo-XML XFWB).