PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Toronto, Canada
June 17, 2015
RE: IATA'S "CABIN OK" INITIATIVE
With all the recent confusion that has been caused by the proposed International Air Transport Association's 'Cabin OK’ initiative, The Heys International Group of companies would like to clarify the current status of this situation and officially confirm its position.
On June 9th, the IATA released a statement ‘suggesting’ that airlines adopt a new standardized carry-on size, and recommending that this carry-on be branded with an ‘“IATA Cabin OK” logo – for which luggage manufacturers would have to pay to use. Although the statement was merely a suggestion, the fact that these new carry-on sizes were considerably smaller than currently permitted by carry-on size regulations, has caused much confusion and concern in both the press and the public.
On June 12th, the IATA clarified its position in a follow up statement which outlined the below key points:
• Cabin OK is a guideline, not a standard. Airlines have no plans to restrict carry-on baggage to the Cabin OK dimensions.
• Most airlines have maximum size limits that are larger than this, and that will not be impacted by the Cabin OK initiative.
• Passengers will be able to continue to use carry-on baggage that is larger than the Cabin OK size, provided it is within their airline’s maximum size limits.
• Cabin OK does not replace airline maximum size limitations. These are determined individually by each airline.
• There are no plans to set an industry standard.
At present, no major North American airlines have changed their carry-on size regulations. In fact, most have publicly announced that they have NO plans to follow the new IATA ‘Cabin OK’ suggestions – so carry-on size regulations will remain the same as they were before, without any changes anticipated.The Heys International Group of companies would like to publicly state its position that it does not support any further reduction of carry-on sizes. Heys offers product that meets with currently established carry-on luggage regulations and will continue to do so.