IATA Traffic Conference Areas: The world is divided into two neat parts the Eastern Hemisphere and the Western Hemisphere. The Eastern Hemisphere refers to the half of the earth which lies in the east of the line known as Prime Meridian; this is the same line which crosses the place known as Greenwich in England and the west of antemeridian.

The Eastern Hemisphere will include the following continents Australia, Europe, Asia and Africa. Another name given to this is Oriental as this part of the world is still considered to be old in terms of socio-cultural parameters. 

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The other half of the earth besides the eastern hemisphere is known as Western Hemisphere and lies to the west of the prime meridian and to the east of antemeridian. The Western Hemisphere will include the Americas (North and South America), western side of Eurasia and Africa, the lowest most east side of Russia, parts of Oceania and just a tiny part of Antarctica

Besides the eastern and the western hemisphere which are the two parts of the world as per the elementary geography is further divided by IATA into3 traffic conference areas called IATA Areas or TC1, TC2 and TC3 which comprise of further sub areas and that is different from the geographical definitions. With the areas Divided, each area is also divided to 3 different parts, and with this, it makes it easier for airline to determine the routes and price for every destination.

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International Air Transport Association (IATA) World geography

For better understanding the International Air Transportation Association has divided world into three areas namely TC1 as traffic conference area-1, TC2 as traffic conference area -2, TC3 as traffic conference area-3. Mainly these traffic conference areas are considered when the traffic routes are to be allotted. The aircrafts make their flying operations according to these traffic conference areas. 

Note:

  • Ural Mountain of Russia and Tehran in Middle East divides TC2 with TC3.
  • TC1 is known as Western Hemisphere.
  • TC2 and TC3 are together known as Eastern Hemisphere.

TRAFFIC CONFERENCE AREA 1

IATA Area 1 or TC1 IATA Area1 or TC1 is composed of the Western Hemisphere. There are the classifications and the sub-areas.

The TC1 can be divided into the below mentioned sub-areas. The headquarters of IATA is in TC1 at Montreal in Canada. The first classification will include the following: 

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  • NORTH AMERICA This will include Canada, Mexico, USA, and St. Pierre and Miquelon.
  • CENTRAL AMERICA This will Belize, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. 
  • CARIBBEAN AREA It includes Bahamas , Guyana , Bermuda , French Guiana , Caribbean Islands which will include Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Barbados, Cayman islands, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Montserrat, Netherland Antilles, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Virgin Islands-British.
  • SOUTH AMERICA It includes Argentina, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, French Guiana, Suriname, Brazil, Guyana, Uruguay, Chile, Panama, Venezuela, Colombia, and Paraguay. 

The second classification of TC1 sub-area will include the following: 

  • North Atlantic sub-area covers the following countries Canada, Greenland, USA and Mexico too. USA will include Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands.  
  • Mid Atlantic sub areas will include the Caribbean Area and sub areas, Central America, South America plus Panama Canal area excluding Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay. 
  • South Atlantic sub areas include the countries Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay. 

IATA Area 2 or TC2 

IATA Area 2 or the Traffic Conference area 2 consist of Europe, Africa, Ascension Island and some parts of Asia, west of Ural mountains which includes Iran and the Middle Eastern Countries. 

  • Europe
  • Africa 
  • Middle East

The headquarters of the IATA traffic conference area-2 or TC-2 is situated in Geneva, Switzerland. 

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  • EUROPE: The countries which are included in this traffic conference area are Albania, Finland, Algeria, France, Andorra, Georgia, Armenia, Germany, Austria, Gibraltar, Azerbaijan, Greece, Belarus, Hungary, Belgium, Iceland, Bosnia Herzegovina, Ireland, Bulgaria, Italy, Croatia, Latvia, Czech Republic, Liechtenstein, Denmark, Lithuania, Estonia, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Morocco, Malta, Netherlands, Moldova, Republic of Norway, Monaco, Poland, Switzerland, Tunisia, Romania, Turkey, Russia-West of Urals, Ukraine, San Marino, United Kingdom, Slovakia, Yugoslavia, Spain, Sweden, Balearic and Canary Islands, Portugal including Azores and Madeira. 

IATA Traffic Conference Areas

EUROPEAN COMMUNITY: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France,

Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom. 

ECONOMIC AND MONETARY UNION: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Monaco, Germany, Luxembourg, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Denmark, Norway and Sweden. 

  • AFRICA: Africa is further subdivided into the regions as:  

CENTRAL AFRICA: It includesMalawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe

EASTERN AFRICA:  It includes Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda, and Southern Africa consisting of Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, South Africa, Namibia, Swaziland, and Libya. 

INDIAN OCEAN ISLANDS: This includes Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius,

Mayotte, and Reunion, Seychelles

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WESTERN AFRICA: This includes Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape

Verde, Central African republic, Chad, Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau,Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria,, Principe and Sao Tome,, Senegal, Siena Leona and Togo. 

MIDDLE EAST: It includesBahrain, Qatar, Cyprus, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Sudan, Iran, Iraq, Syria, UAE, Israel, Yemen, Jordan, Oman, Kuwait, and Lebanon. 

IATA Area 3 or TC3

The IATA traffic area three i.e. TC-3 is composed of the whole of Asia and the adjacent islands except the inclusions in Area 2; the East Indies, Australia, New Zealand the neighboring islands in the Pacific Ocean except those in TC1.  

Traffic Conference (TC) area3 Asia (East of the Urals), Oceania, (Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific Islands)

  1. South East Asia
  2. South Asian Sub continent
  3. Japan, Korea (Japkor)
  4. South West pacific

The zone’s headquarters are situated in Singapore.

SOUTH EAST ASIA SUB AREA:  Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China excluding Hong Kong, Christmas Island, Cocos, Guam, Hong Kong SAR, China, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Macau SAR,  China, Marshall, Malaysia, Micronesia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Philippines, Russia-east of Urals, Singapore, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

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SOUTH ASIAN SUB CONTINENT SUB AREA: Afghanistan, Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka. 

  • JAPAN KOREA SUB AREA: Japan, North Korea and South Korea.
  • SOUTH WEST PACIFIC SUB AREA: American Samoa, Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Kiribati, Nauru, New Caledonia, Loyalty Islands, New Zealand. Niue, Papua New Guinea, Samao, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Wallis and Futuna and Intermediate Islands. 
Airline Baggage

IATA Traffic Conference Areas