The International Air Transport Association has come under attack for a lack of transparency.
The trade body, which represents 230 airlines and 93 per cent of scheduled international air traffic, was denounced by Qatar Airways CEO, Akbar Al Baker at the association’s annual general meeting.
He said that the body was ‘run for the few by the few’ and cast doubt over auditing for the financial statements presented by the board.
He said that the association had spent $18 million on travel, $29 million on consultants and outsourcing and $58 million on data processing. Mr. Al Baker asked the association to justify the travel sum and also the process of how contracts were outsourced.
He also criticised the appointment of James Hogan of Etihad to the board to represent the Middle East.
“We believe such issues should not be surprises. Firstly, such decisions should be transparent and secondly, if geographical representation is the basis of the composition of the board, the regional airlines involved should be informed in advance of their regional allotments so that they can coordinate who should represent them,” said Mr. Al Baker.
New leadership
At the AGM, two new appointments to the leadership of the association were ratified. Peter Hartman, President and CEO of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, was voted as chairman of the International Air Transport Association board of governors. He succeeds David Bronczek of FedEx Express and will serve for a year.
“I am honoured and excited to take on this important role with IATA at such a critical time. The International Air Transport Association’s leadership touches all the critical industry issues from safety and security, to environment and simplifying the business… the industry’s environment is changing rapidly. We must continue our joint efforts towards a sustainable aviation industry, to deliver the needed change to react quickly to crises, and also to proactively modernize processes and spread best practices,” said Mr. Hartman.
Tony Tyler, previously chief executive officer of Cathay Pacific, will succeed the outspoken Giovanni Bisignani as director general and CEO of the association. Mr. Tyler will take over as of 1 July and Mr. Bisignani will become director general emeritus.
“I am pleased to hand over the leadership of the association to Tony. He brings all the right personal qualities and business experiences needed to take the association to even greater heights. It has been a challenging decade.
The International Air Transport Association and the industry survived and grew stronger because we had the courage to change and the focus to deliver. I thank the Board, our members, partners, and governments that embraced and supported change and believed in my vision. With Tony, I am sure that the association is in good hands and I look forward to watching it adapt to emerging realities and see its relevance to the industry grow,” said Mr. Bisignani.
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