The Passenger and Airport Data Interchange Standards (PADIS) Board was established in 1990 to develop Electronic Data Interchange message standards for passenger travel and airport related passenger service activities. The PADIS Board is governed by the Passenger Services Conference Resolution 783 and is mandated to develop and approve standard messages based on the UN/EDIFACT syntax rules.
User sub-groups under the direction of the Board, meet concurrently three times a year and are presently developing messages in the Reservations, Electronic Ticketing, and Airport Services functional areas. Development has also been accomplished in the Check-in, Baggage Services, and Weight & Balance areas.
The concurrent sessions maintain a unique structure and method of operation which differs from that of other IATA working groups. The individual user groups, (Reservations, and Airports), possess the task of agreeing and documenting business requirements according to needs in their various areas. These requirements, are then passed to a technical assessment group (TAG) which translates the requirements into EDIFACT messages. The messages are then presented back to the user group for clarification/modification or approval. Once a message has been finalised it is then submitted to the PADIS Board for approval. In addition, the PADIS Board has in their capacity to guide and monitor the progress and workplans of its sub-groups as well as deal with policy issues which may arise.
The user groups also have the responsibility to develop and maintain implementation guides to support the PADIS Standards. [See the Publications section of this Web site].
Given the nature of the PADIS business functions, the PADIS Board has been at the forefront of developing interactive EDIFACT messages. Those message standards which have the potential to become multimodal or multisectorial are forwarded to the UN as the airline requirement. The development of these messages, which are exchanged between airlines, Central Reservation Systems, and other trading partners, in EDIFACT offers a distinct advantage over other standards since one standard can be used between many different automated systems within the travel industry.
To date, 72 EDIFACT messages have been adopted as IATA standards and development is underway on a number of other requirements.
For further information please visit the PADIS Working Group Sites.
PADIS Implementations:
- Reservations
- Electronic Ticketing
- Functional Service Element (FSE)
- Check-In
- Airport/Airline communication
- Baggage
- Weight and Balance
For more information on PADIS, please contact padis@iata.org.