What is the FWB message?
FWB = Air Waybill Data — the Cargo-IMP message carrying the full (master) air waybill electronically between forwarders, airlines, and handlers; it is the message that carries the e-AWB.
Last updated · 12 Aug 2026
What the FWB carries
FWB stands for Air Waybill Data — its Standard Message Identifier is literally FWB. Per the Cargo-IMP manual’s own message function statement, its purpose is “to transmit a complete set of Air Waybill data in accordance with the Cargo Services Conference Resolutions Manual,” computer-to-computer, between the Cargo Control Computers of the parties handling a consignment.
The specification builds the message from a fixed sequence of segments:
- Standard Message Identification — the SMI (
FWB) and a message version number, e.g.FWB/17. - AWB Consignment Details — the AWB Identification (three-digit airline prefix, hyphen, eight-digit serial number), Origin and Destination airport/city codes, Quantity Detail (shipment description code, number of pieces, weight code and weight), plus optional Volume Detail and Density Group.
- Flight Bookings (optional) — carrier code, flight number, and day, repeatable up to two flights.
- Routing — the first destination/carrier and up to two onward destination/carrier legs.
- Shipper and Consignee — each with an account number, name, street address, and location (city, ISO country code, postcode); the Shipper block additionally carries a repeatable contact detail field.
Real FWB traffic, as shown in the manual’s own worked examples, layers on further segments beyond that core skeleton: an Agent (AGT) block identifying the issuing agent, a Special Service Request (SSR) free-text line, currency and valuation declarations (CVD), a rate description (RTD) that carries the nature-of-goods text and customs value, other charges (OTH), a prepaid charge summary (PPD), a certification (CER) signature, issuing details (ISU) — date, place, and issuing agent — and, on some messages, special handling codes and other-customs-information free text.
For dangerous goods, the manual’s own example shows this working end to end: the SSR segment carries the line DANGEROUS GOODS AS PER ATTACHED SHIPPERS DECLARATION, pointing the receiving system at the accompanying Shipper’s Declaration for Dangerous Goods rather than trying to encode the full DG data inline.
FWB and the e-AWB
The FWB is the vehicle; the e-AWB is the contract. An e-AWB is formed between two parties who have signed an e-AWB agreement, and — per IATA’s own wording — is “materialised with the exchange of an IATA standard (X)FWB message.” There is no separate “e-AWB message”: sending a valid FWB (or its Cargo-XML equivalent, XFWB) for a shipment on an e-AWB-enabled lane is how the electronic contract of carriage is conveyed. Paper only re-enters the picture where a treaty, national law, or bilateral agreement still requires it.
FWB vs FZB vs FHL
Three Cargo-IMP messages get mixed up constantly, and the FWB’s own manual chapter, combined with Cargo-IMP’s core message table, keeps them straight:
- FWB — Air Waybill Data. The master air waybill (MAWB): one shipment, airport to airport.
- FZB — House Waybill Data. The dedicated message for a house air waybill (HAWB), the document the forwarder issues to each underlying shipper inside a consolidation.
- FHL — Consolidation List. Not house waybill data — it’s the house-manifest summary listing the house waybills inside a consolidation.
A deeper walkthrough of that three-way split, including how the messages nest under one MAWB, lives at FHL vs FZB.
After Cargo-IMP
FWB is frozen along with the rest of Cargo-IMP at the 34th and final edition. Its direct XML-era successor is XFWB, the Cargo-XML message carrying the same waybill data in an XML envelope instead of Type B text — same fields, no character-set or size limits. Further out, IATA ONE Record removes the message entirely: instead of an FWB (or XFWB) being sent and re-sent between parties, the waybill becomes a shared Logistics Object that every authorised party reads and updates directly. A closer comparison of all three approaches — what each one costs you and what it buys you — is at Cargo-IMP vs Cargo-XML vs ONE Record.
How Flaks handles the FWB
Flaks issues and receives FWBs natively: it generates a compliant FWB (and XFWB) from your own AWB stock on the first booking, so every shipment is e-AWB-ready from the start, and it parses the FWBs your forwarders and partners already send — agent, shipper, consignee, rate, and dangerous-goods-reference segments included — without manual re-entry. Because Flaks also speaks ONE Record, the same waybill data is available as shared data to partners who have moved past messaging, with no separate migration project required. See the API overview.
FWB: FAQ
What is the FWB message?
FWB (Air Waybill Data) is the Cargo-IMP message that transmits a complete set of air waybill data, computer-to-computer, between the parties handling a consignment. Its stated intention is to eliminate re-keying data already entered by an earlier participant, and to eliminate the need for a paper air waybill to accompany the shipment, in line with ICAO Annex 9, Section B, Chapter 4.
Is the FWB the same as the e-AWB?
No. FWB is the Cargo-IMP messaging format — the vehicle. The e-AWB is the electronic contract of carriage between forwarder and airline — the legal content. An e-AWB is materialised by exchanging an FWB (or its Cargo-XML equivalent, XFWB); the FWB is how the e-AWB actually moves between systems.
Who sends an FWB message, and when?
The Cargo-IMP manual lists the cases explicitly: a cargo agent delivering a consignment to an airline, an airline transferring a consignment to another airline, an airline delivering to (or receiving from) a handling party, an airline delivering to a cargo agent, or a participant requesting air waybill data via an FWR message. An unsolicited FWB must be sent before the goods are physically delivered.
What is the difference between FWB and FZB?
FWB carries the master air waybill (MAWB) data — the whole shipment, airport to airport. FZB carries House Waybill Data, the message for each underlying house air waybill (HAWB) inside a consolidation. One MAWB, and one FWB, can sit above many HAWBs and FZBs.
What does an FWB message actually contain?
Per the Cargo-IMP specification: the AWB Consignment Details (airline prefix and serial number, origin/destination, piece count, weight, volume), optional Flight Bookings, Routing, and full Shipper and Consignee blocks (name, address, location). Real-world FWB traffic also carries an Agent segment, currency and valuation declarations, a rate description with the nature of goods, charge totals, a certification signature, issuing details, and — for hazardous shipments — a special service request referencing the attached Shipper's Declaration for Dangerous Goods.
What replaces the FWB message?
Cargo-XML's XFWB carries the same data in an XML envelope. The strategic endpoint further out is IATA ONE Record, which the Cargo Services Conference endorsed as the preferred air cargo data-sharing standard effective 1 January 2026 — there, the waybill stops being a message sent back and forth and becomes shared data both parties read and update.