Guide · 2 min read
Neutral AWB explained
A neutral air waybill is an air waybill form without airline branding. It changes how the document looks, not whose number it carries: the AWB number still belongs to the airline.
What is a neutral air waybill?
An airline-branded AWB form carries the airline's name and logo, and often its prefix pre-printed. A neutral AWB form has the same layout and the same boxes, but no airline branding, so a forwarder can use one form for every carrier it works with. The issuing carrier's name is filled in on the form.
Neutral forms have no prefix of their own. IATA's cargo accounting standard (CASS) describes the numbers used on neutral forms as the airline's air waybill serial numbers for use on neutral AWB forms, allocated to each agent by prefix and serial range.
Whose number is on a neutral AWB?
The airline's. Every AWB number starts with the 3-digit prefix of the airline that issued it, as published in IATA's Airline Coding Directory: for example 020 is Lufthansa Cargo, 176 is Emirates and 180 is Korean Air (006 is Delta Air Lines). The serial comes from a range the airline allocated to you, as AWB stock or with the booking.
| Airline-branded form | Neutral form | |
|---|---|---|
| Branding | The airline's name and logo | None; the issuing carrier's name is filled in |
| AWB number | The airline's prefix + serial | The airline's prefix + serial |
| Who allocates the serial | The airline | The airline |
| FWB message | The same | The same |
AWB number structure and the check digit
Every AWB number, on a branded or a neutral form, has 11 digits: the 3-digit airline prefix and an 8-digit serial whose last digit is the check digit. The check digit is the remainder when the first 7 serial digits are divided by 7, including 0: 1234567 leaves 5, so the full number is 020-12345675.
A valid check digit only shows that the number is well-formed. It does not show that the airline allocated that number to you. Check any AWB number with the free AWB check-digit calculator.
When forwarders use neutral forms
A forwarder that ships with several airlines can print every MAWB on a neutral form, so the layout stays the same whichever carrier it books. The number on each MAWB still comes from the airline that carries the shipment.
House air waybills are the forwarder's own documents. They carry the forwarder's own numbers and no airline prefix.
AWB Studio prints the MAWB on an unbranded layout with the issuing carrier's name filled in, and completes the check digit as you type the number. When the free FWB validator opens at public launch, it will flag a wrong check digit, and a prefix that is not in AWB Studio's airline list, in a message from any system. See what it will check.
Updated 4 November 2026. AWB Studio is not affiliated with IATA.