Why Every Airport Is The Same

Here is your standard airline ticket

It's filled with information, your departure airport, your destination, your flight number

your gate, and when your flight is. And the layout of this ticket is going to look pretty much the same, regardless of what airline you get it from

Think about how relatively easy this is to get no matter where you are. You go online, you find the flight you want, you buy it, and boom, you're on it

In order for this to happen, there's a ton that goes on behind the scenes that the average passenger never thinks about

After World War II, the airline industry really began to take off

No pun intended. Bigger planes and a more globalized economy meant there was a higher demand for passengers than ever before

And there was no end in sight to that growth. This left tons of issues and logistical questions to be answered, mostly surrounding things on how to standardize the industry

For example, imagine that you're flying from New York City to Cape Town and you have a layover in Paris

You have one flight on one airline to Paris and you have a new airline. flight on another airline to Cape Town How do we split money if a passenger has to take multiple airlines to get to their final destination Is the airline or the airport responsible for the bag How can we standardize airfare How can we track every single plane How can you be sure that everyone is talking about the same airport

If none of these standards were in place, it would make air travel an absolute mess

So to solve this issue, in 1945, a bunch of representatives from different airlines got together

and created the International Air Transport Association, or I-A-A-A-I-A-O-A-O-K, okay, hold on

I know that this sounds like it's about to get really boring because I just mentioned an acronym, but I promise that this is interesting, because if you've ever flown commercial

you've benefited tremendously from what Ayata has done. When they met together, they were incredibly

forward thinking. Remember that this is 1945, and they were making policies about the future

of planes that are pilotless. And also this. They knew that air travel would play a major role

in the future. So they set standards that would stand the test of time. So it's Ayata that's the one

who's responsible for standardizing future. Things like the universally used three-letter airport codes

the design of your airline ticket, the markings on the plane, and safety protocols

They created baggage claim codes and airline abbreviations They also worked to lower prices and keep them consistent and also to try to lower carbon emissions They also the ones who certified it who could create bookings on airlines which became incredibly important during the height of travel agents

Just imagine trying to plug into the massive network of air travel, all in just doing paperwork

without any internet. It's a huge logistical nightmare. Additionally, they set requirements for

airline and airport accessibility, so those who are traveling with disabilities can expect a similar

standard across the board, although it's still not perfect. There are over 5,000 airlines each day

that collectively route 100,000 flights carrying 6 million passengers, and that's just in an average

24-hour day. With all of these flights, that means that an average of a million people are in a

plane at any given time. Everything that Iada does allows for this massive, international

multilingual time zone spanning network to work together cohesively. The organization is designed to be a resource for airlines to plug into so that they know the standards and can participate in a kind of a union so they know what to do But Ayata is also a great resource for curious passengers like you and me On their website they provide information regarding topics like COVID

or standards for transporting animals in different places or what is being done across the airline industry

to prevent tragedies like human trafficking. It's wild to me that in 1945

when frankly we had no idea what was going to happen to the commercial airline industry

that Ayata had the forethought to create systems and implement these standards

that made it possible for you and I today to order an airline ticket, get on a plane

fly to a place we've never been, and to know exactly what to expect. And all of this being done without even knowing what Ayata is, at least till now

Thanks for watching if you guys like informed travel content like this

Subscribe to this channel and also head over to brighttrip.com where we have travel courses

on not only how to go to specific places like Tokyo or Cape Town

but also things that are skill-based, like how to learn a language, how to use a camera

and how to document your travels. We'll see you over there. Peace