The aviation industry needs to work together to improve security in the sector, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Speaking at the 22nd AVSEC World conference, director-general and chief executive officer of IATA Tony Tyler proposed better security in terms of cargo, cyber security and data usage.

He said: "We need to change from prescriptive one-size-fits-all measures and embrace performance-based regulation if the economic benefits of aviation growth are not to be curtailed by security inefficiency."

The body proposes a greater use of advance passenger information or passenger name record programmes, to better collect details of those flying, although it states these would need to be agreeable with regulations from the International Civil Aviation Organization.

In terms of cargo, IATA focused on the European Union's (EU's) upcoming ACC3 regulation, which comes into effect from July 1st 2014, which will stop air freight imports into the EU from non-validated third countries - IATA states the number of recognised locations are limited and suggests companies combine auditing to improve their options.

IATA recently suggested the industry cooperates in its efforts to revitalise air cargo and make it more competitive in the current market.

A greater need for cyber security was also emphasised, due to the large amount of computing devices used in aviation.