Cathay’s Tyler is new IATA chair

CATHAY PACIFIC   IATA AGM 

Hong Kong - Cathay Pacific Airways CEO Tony Tyler will start his one-year term as the chairman of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) board of directors. He succeeds CEO of Royal Jordanian Airlines Samer Majali at a precarious time for the industry.

In his role, Tyler will work together with the airlines to battle possibly the worst situation to hit the industry ever.

"The global economic meltdown is hitting the aviation industry hard. A toxic combination of low fares, a large drop in premium travel, and weak cargo loads is hitting the bottom line hard," Tyler said.

"IATA has some critical roles to play. It must protect the US$350 billion in industry cash flowing through its financial systems. It must also find even more efficiency gains - not just by airlines but throughout the industry value chain," he said.

The economic crisis will not shadow the industry's push to be more eco-friendly, Tyler said. IATA is focused to achieving carbon-neutral growth by 2020, but to achieve this governments have to be involved, he says. "That means turning their support for improved technology, effective operations and efficient infrastructure into action, as well as reaching agreement on a global sectoral approach to economic measures in a post-Kyoto climate framework."

IATA said David Bronczek, president and CEO of FedEx Express will serve as chairman following Tyler.

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