FFM (Freight Flight Manifest)

FFM (Freight Flight Manifest) is an IATA Cargo-IMP standard message that transmits airline flight manifest data. The FFM serves as the official message for flight manifest specifications in air cargo operations. The manifest description of goods in the FFM is limited to 15 characters and is extracted from the first 15 characters of the first line of the NG field in the associated FWB message. The current version is FFM/8, which was last updated in November 2013.

A United Airlines cargo flight UA123 departing Chicago O'Hare (ORD) for London Heathrow (LHR) would generate an FFM/8 message containing manifest details for all air waybills aboard, including AWB 016-12345678 for a shipment of electronics weighing 500 kilos. A Lufthansa Cargo flight LH8456 from Frankfurt (FRA) to New York JFK would transmit its FFM containing consolidated shipment data including AWB 020-87654321 with commodity description truncated to 15 characters as 'Machine parts' from the original 'Machine parts for automotive assembly' description.

• FFM
• flight manifest message
• cargo manifest message

What is the character limit for commodity descriptions in FFM messages?

Commodity descriptions in FFM messages are limited to exactly 15 characters. This description is automatically extracted from the first 15 characters of the first line of the NG (Nature of Goods) field in the corresponding FWB message. For example, 'Aircraft spare parts' would be truncated to 'Aircraft spare' in the FFM.

What version of FFM is currently used in Cargo-IMP messaging?

The current version is FFM/8 (Airline Flight Manifest version 8), which was last updated on November 10, 2013. This version is supported in IATA Cargo-IMP systems and can be converted to the XML equivalent XFFM format for modern cargo systems integration.