Willie Walsh to head international airline body IATA
Willie Walsh, the former British Airways boss, will take over as director general and CEO of the international airline body IATA next March.
He will replace Alexandre de Juniac, who announced his intention to step down from the role earlier this year.
The IATA Board of Governors will recommend Willie, the former CEO of BA parent IAG, take over the role at today’s AGM.
Alexandre said it had been ‘a privilege of a lifetime to serve the global air transport industry’. He has been head of IATA since 2016, having joined from Air France-KLM where he was chairman and CEO.
"Over the last years IATA has strategically increased its relevance as the voice of the global airline industry," he said. "IATA has set the course to restore air connectivity amid the pandemic with systematic pre-departure testing.
"We are well into preparations to fulfil critical vaccine distribution needs. In parallel, we have restructured IATA to survive the crisis and be ready to support the industry recovery with an organization dimensioned to serve a smaller industry.
"And we have a motivated team that is determined to get the job done. The building blocks for an industry recovery are in place. And now is the right time to hand over IATA’s leadership for the long process of recovery."
Willie will take over on 31 March 2021.
By Linsey McNeill, Editor (UK)
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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