Hello everyone, after the long May Day holiday, have you re-engaged in your intense and exciting work? If yes, congratulations, India is shipping a lot now, as long as you have the position, you will not worry about the goods. If not, congratulations, because maybe you are still on vacation. But don’t be too happy, in our line, even on vacation, there are constant phone calls, WeChat and emails.
We have briefly talked about the telegraph before, and today we will talk about this topic in detail. In fact, this topic was written because a reader reported that colleagues in their company misunderstood Telegram too much. This situation makes me feel the need to talk to you about telegrams. There are many things contained in the telegram, and the specifications, formats, and contents are all stipulated. Take this opportunity to let everyone know about the freight telegram.
In fact, there are many types of telegrams, and CCA is just one of them, but don’t say that telegram is CCA. We have to figure out the telegraph, or we have to start with the basics. At present, air telegrams are mainly divided into two major types. One is SITA Telegram and the other is AFTN Telegram. The difference between the two telegrams is that they are applicable to different departments. AFTN telegrams are mainly used by air traffic control departments, while SITA telegrams are more used internally by airlines. What we are going to talk about in this article is SITA Telegram.
Even SITA telegrams have many different types, such as takeoff, delay, FFM, FWB, FHL, etc. We are only discussing telegrams related to goods today. Not to mention the takeoff delay.
Next, as usual, let’s explain what SITA is. The full name of SITA is: Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques. Translated into Chinese is “International Aviation Telecommunications Corporation”. As an international general aviation communication agency, SITA has been working for the aviation industry (as far as I know there are also other industries using SITA’s business) for a long time, and the technology is also very mature, and it is a trustworthy agency.
Next, let’s take a look at the format of the telegram. Generally speaking, the composition of a telegram will display the following contents in order: telegram level (urgency), receiving address, sending address, sending date, telegram type, Telegram content, ending. for example:
QD
STOAPSK STOAPCA,
. PEKAPCA 110830
TPM
CA911/11Sep STO PART 1
xxxx
xxxx
=
In the above example, QD is the telegram grade, STOAPSK and STOAPCA are the receiving addresses, PEKAPCA is the sending address, 110830 is the sending date, TPM is the telegram type, from CA911 to the second xxxx is the telegram content, and the last “= ” is the end.
Let’s talk about it one by one. The first is the telegraph class. We know that there are many types of telegrams, but how can we let people see the telegram that is most urgent and needs to be dealt with immediately among the vast amount of telegrams? is to use the telegraph class. Therefore, the beginning of each telegram must be clearly written with the level of the telegram and written on a separate line. In this way, if we encounter many telegrams, we only need to scan the first line of each telegram to know whether the telegram is an emergency telegram. So what does the level of the telegram indicate? What is the level of QD above? Little friends, don’t worry, I have summarized some common grades for your reference.
| grade | code | Urgency/processing priority |
| Level 1 | SS, QS, QC | Processing priority higher than all other classes |
| Level 2 | QU, QX | Processing priority is higher than levels 3 and 4 |
| Level 3 | Any code beginning with Q except QS, QC, QU, QX and QD. | The processing priority is higher than level 4. Telegrams whose rank begins with any letter other than SS will be considered as having no priority limit. |
| Level 4 | QD | Process telegrams of this level after processing all telegrams of level 1, 2, and 3. |
Therefore, combined with this table, the example telegram above is a telegram with a priority of Level 4.
Next, let’s talk about the receiving address and sending address of the telegram. Both are the same format. They are all composed of 7 English letters. The first three letters are the airport’s three-letter code, the middle two are the airline’s internal department/position, and the last two are the airline’s two-letter code. For example, CANKKQR. This address represents: Guangzhou Qatar Airways Airport Office (for the webmaster). So seeing the telegram address, we can probably guess where the telegram is. The most confusing thing should be what department/position the two letters in the middle represent. Some of these two English letters are common, and some are set by the airlines themselves. I recalled a bit and listed some common letters for you.
KK: Station Manager (station manager) – this is generally applicable, many airlines will set the KK address.
FF : General cargo
FR: Cargo reservations (reservation department )
FH: Cargo handling (Operation Department)
FS: Cargo Sales (Sales Department)
FI: Cargo import (Cargo import department)
FE: Cargo export (Cargo export department)
Then the following departments are found on the Internet, and they are applicable to domestic
| AA | Civil Aviation Administration of Finance Department | RC | In-city international seat control |
| AC | Civil Aviation Administration International Settlement Office | RG | In-city group reservations |
| AI | Authority International Settlement Office | RM | automatic seat center |
| AP | International check-in | RP | PTA Room (Advice of Advance Payment) |
| AR | Finance Office | RR | City ticket office |
| CB | office | RT | freight calculation |
| CC | Airline Management Center | RZ | Ticket Office Seat Control Room |
| CE | Confidential | ST | oil department |
| CG | China Civil Aviation Advertising Company | SW | oil depot |
| CM | Communications Office, Aviation Department, Civil Aviation Administration | TF | Production scheduling room |
| EN | Communications of the Communications Office of the Aviation Department of the Civil Aviation Administration | TR | Enterprise Management Office |
| CW | Weather room/station | TX | sales agent |
| CY | Communication station/team | TZ | Airport domestic check-in |
| CZ | Civil Aviation Administration Communication Center | UA | Finance Office |
| DD | foreign offices | UB | Operation Management Office, Quality Measurement Office |
| DR | Construction Division of Infrastructure Department | UC | advertising company |
| ER | Science and Education Office | UD | navigation department |
| FC | International Cargo Capacity Control | UE | Science and Education Section |
| FD | Airport Domestic Cargo | UF | Marketing Office, Flight Planning Office |
| FF | Freight department, overseas freight representative | UG | General Aviation Division |
| FI | Airport International Cargo | UH | Operation Department, Commerce Department |
| FS | Intra-city international freight | UI | aeronautical information room |
| FT | In-city international freight pickup | UJ | Equipment Management Office |
| FU | In-city domestic freight | UK | Care Unit (Flight, Engineering, Economics, Accounting) |
| HC | airline food company | UL | Aircraft maintenance plant, maintenance center |
| HH | Catering department | UM | Aircraft Maintenance Engineering Office, Maintenance Office |
| IP | Civil Aviation News Agency | UN | flying brigade |
| JA | A part of aviation materials company | UO | dispatch room |
| JB | Aviation materials company two | UP | Passenger Terminal |
| JJ | equipment company | UQ | Cargo Office |
| JR | Aviation Materials Management Center | UR | International Relations Office, Foreign Affairs Office |
| KD | Airport Domestic Passenger Services | US | Supply Office, Cabin Services Department |
| KK | Head of foreign office | UT | Production scheduling room |
| KL | Airport International Stowage | UV | Flight Safety Technology Division |
| KM | Off-duty automatic control center | UW | Planning Office |
| KN | Domestic stowage at the airport | UX | Airline Central Radio |
| KP | Domestic check-in procedures, airport transfer ticket sales | UY | Telecommunications Office, Communications Supervisor |
| KU | Unit control center, department | UZ | and airline president and general manager |
| LD | Airport Domestic Cargo Inquiry | WR | Meteorological Office |
| LI | Airport International Cargo Inquiry | XC | Receiver on duty |
| LL | International Baggage Tracking | XM | Automatic transfer machine |
| LN | Domestic Baggage Inquiry | XT | communication center |
| MJ | Aircraft Repair Plant/Maintenance Brigade | XZ | Agency Radio |
| MP | Aviation material order department | YF | aeronautical fixed station/replier control seat |
| MR | Airworthiness Office | YM | weather station |
| NB | Flight Standard Division Flight Safety Inspection Office | YN | CAAC NOTAM Room |
| NC | Flight Accident Investigation Division, Flight Standard Division | YP | Meteorological Information Clearinghouse |
| NR | Flight Standard Security Checkpoint Security Section | YS | To the air station |
| OA | Aviation Department of Civil Aviation Administration | YT | Communications and Navigation Office |
| OI | Aeronautical Information Office of the Airport | ZB | pipe adjustment |
| OR | Navigation Office / Section | ZG | overall tone |
| OU | squadron | ZI | flight information center |
| OY | flying brigade | ZP | station tune |
| PR | Planning Office | ZQ | instrument flight control center |
| PX | Metrology Office | ZR | District tone |
| QR | labor department | ZT | tower |
Knowing these codes, we know exactly where the telegram address is. There are also some airlines that have no way of knowing.
The last is the airline code. If you still want to find out which airline a certain two-character code is, you can click here to read the article we talked about earlier. The article provides the query method on the IATA official website.
Next, let’s talk about telegram types, which is the focus of this article. Because of the variety of telegrams, it is necessary to distinguish between different telegram types. In the example telegram above, TPM is a telegram, which means the actual class passenger list report. Of course, this is not the most necessary knowledge for those of us who do cargo (but also understand that you don’t know the actual passengers, how can you predict the payload). In order to let people know at a glance what type of telegram is, a separate location is given to this field.
At the beginning of the article, there is a FFM newspaper, a FWB newspaper, and a FHL newspaper. These are some of the most common telegrams that we can usually come into contact with. Let’s briefly explain it first.
The FFM report, which is equivalent to the manifest, is the telegram of the cargo manifest. In the FFM report, the manifest of all goods on the entire flight will be displayed. With the FFM report, you can know the situation of each shipment on the flight.
The FWB report is equivalent to the main single content. Note that this is a Master Airway Bill, not a split bill. For those who have forgotten the knowledge of the bill of lading, you can click here to review what we said about the bill of lading before. The FWB message is to send out the contents of the master bill of each cargo on the flight in the form of telegrams. Some friends may have doubts. There are so many bills of lading for one flight. Do I have to enter the telegram one by one? The answer is: yes and no. Very contradictory? Let me take it slow. In fact, we need to enter the bill of lading information for each flight, whether it is the main order or the sub-order, we must enter it. The difference is that some airlines record orders by agents, and some airlines record orders by themselves. But no matter who records the order, there will be a record when the order is recorded. The FWB report is to retrieve the B/L information that has been entered and organize it into a FWB report. So everyone remember to be careful when recording. Otherwise, even the FWB message will be wrong.
The FHL report is equivalent to the content of the order. This is actually the same as FWB, except that the content of the message becomes a separate order. Not much to say here.
Now let’s continue to look at some other common telegram types, so that you can have a concept when you see them later.
| FFR | Tonnage application | FFA | Tonnage Reply |
| FUR | Application for tonnage of container equipment | FUA | Unit tonnage reply |
| CPM | ULD status | UCM | Unit control |
| FFC | Tonnage booking changes | FSR | Situation inquiry |
| FSA | Situation reply | FAD | error notification |
| FRP | Abnormal Shipping Report | FCC | Confirmation of Fee Change |
| FMB | Notice of stop accepting goods | FMC | Changes to stop cargo notification |
| FMX | Cancellation of Notice of Cessation of Acceptance of Goods | FFM | cargo manifest telegram |
| FCM | cargo declaration manifest telegram | FBL | Ordered tonnage cargo list |
| FSH | Special cargo reservation application | FFH | Inquiry telegram for abnormal transportation of goods |
| CCA | Change payment method or shipping order content |
Continuing, it is the content of the telegram. As mentioned in previous articles, because there are many abbreviations in telegrams, some are conventional, and some may be the habits of the telegraphers themselves. We can understand the conventions, and the writing habits can also be roughly guessed from the context. Below are some common ones for your reference.
| ERROR | wrong | OVCD | Missed unloading |
| OFLD | pull goods | MSMFST | less bills |
| STLD | lack | SSPD | Missing equipment |
| FDCA | Overcharge | MISLBL | mislabeled |
| MSAW | less freight bill | MSCA | less cargo |
| DFLD | installed | DMG | damaged |
| FDAW | Overcharge Waybill |
Finally, let me briefly mention that in many telegrams, an equal sign “=” is used as the end of the message. That way everyone will know the telegram is over. This practice is equivalent to the meaning of “the following contents are blank” written in the contract. simple and clear.
Alright, that’s it for this lecture. See you next time!