Qantas CEO takes up duties as IATA chairman
The International Air Transport Association announced yesterday that Qantas Airways chief executive officer and managing director Alan Joyce had assumed his duties as chairman of the IATA board of governors.
He succeeds KLM president and CEO Peter Hartman, whose one-year term expired at the conclusion of the association’s 68th annual general meeting and World Air Transport Summit in Beijing.
Joyce’s appointment is for one year, ending with the conclusion of IATA’s 69th AGM, to be held in South Africa next year.
A 24-year veteran of the airline industry, Joyce has led Qantas since November 2008. He was CEO of Jetstar from 2003 to 2008, before which he spent more than 15 years in leadership positions at Qantas, Ansett and Aer Lingus. Joyce is the third Qantas CEO to serve as chairman of IATA’s board of governors, following most recently James Strong (1999-2000).
“IATA plays a critical role in the industry and I am honoured to take on the role of leading its board of governors,” Joyce said. “The top priorities, as always, will be safety, security and sustainability. On top of that, I want to see IATA continue to deliver value to its members by being a strong advocate for the industry. Aviation delivers enormous economic benefits, supporting some 57 million jobs and US$2.2 trillion [Bt63 trillion] in economic activity.
“We need to ensure that governments understand what is at stake when they are making key decisions on taxes, regulation and capacity expansion.”
Tony Tyler, director-general of IATA, said: “I am confident that Alan is the right person to lead IATA’s board of governors as the association strives to deliver even greater value to our members.
“Our ambitious agenda over the next year includes developing the foundation standards for a new distribution capability, pushing forward progress on Checkpoint of the Future, and working through the International Civil Aviation Organisation to achieve a global approach on positive economic measures to help manage aviation’s 2-per-cent contribution to man-made carbon emissions. All of this will be done in an economic environment that is likely to become even more challenging.”
IATA also announced that the board of governors had appointed Richard Anderson, CEO of Delta Air Lines, to serve as chairman from June 2013, following Joyce’s term.
