The Air Waybill (AWB) is the contract of carriage between the “shipper” (such as the forwarder) and the “carrier” (such as the airline). The e-AWB is an electronic contract of carriage that is an alternative to the paper AWB written contract.

Users can submit an e-AWB through through the interchange of electronic data (EDI) messages. The terms and conditions for interchanging EDI messages between shipper and carrier are set in International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) Model Agreement for EDI.