Air Transport Document (Air Waybill)

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An air waybill is a non-negotiable transport document covering transport of cargo from airport to airport. A complete air waybill contains the following criteria:
  1. Name of carrier with a signature identified as that of carrier or named agent for and/or on behalf of the carrier,
  2. An indication that the goods have been accepted for carriage as well as the date of issuance or date of loading,
  3. In a documentary letter of credit, an indication of the actual date of dispatch if required by the documentary letter of credit or if the actual date of dispatch is not required by the credit, the issuance date of the document is deemed to be the shipment date,
  4. An indication of the airport of departure and the destined airport,
  5. Appears on its face to be the original for consignor/shipper,
  6. Terms and conditions of carriage or a reference to the terms and conditions of carriage in another source or document,
  7. Meets any other stipulation of the sales contract or documentary letter of credit.
Cautions and Notes for Documentary Letters of Credit

Information contained in the "for carrier use only" box concerning flight number and the date are not considered to be the actual flight number and date.

Since air waybills are issued in 3 originals - one for the issuing carrier, one for the consignee or buyer and one for the shipper or seller. A documentary credit should not require presentation in more than one original, nor should it call for a "full set of original air waybills".

The air waybill must name a consignee (who can be the buyer) and it should not be required to be issued "to order" and/or "to be endorsed". Since it is not negotiable and it does not considered as evidence title to the goods in order to maintain some control of goods not paid for by cash in advance, sellers often consign air shipments to their sales agents, or freight forwarders' agents in the buyer's country.

The air waybill should not be required to indicate an actual flight date since IATA regulations specify that reservations requrested by the shipper shall not be inserted under "flight/date".

Definitions

Master Air Waybill (MAWB) - A shipper's contract of carriage with an airline,
House Air Waybill (HAWB) - A shipper's contract of carriage with the logistics firm.

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