News Backgrounder
France’s de Juniac to take charge at IATA
IATA’s director general-designate is an old Asia hand.
May 1st 2016
There is universal agreement that International Air Transport Association (IATA) director general and CEO, Tony Tyler, will be a hard act to follow when he steps down at the organization’s AGM in June. Read More »
But if anyone can pick up the baton for the airline cause, it is his nominated successor, Alexandre de Juniac, until recently the chief executive of the Air France-KLM group. Confirmation of his succession is expected at the AGM in Dublin.
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| Alexandre de Juniac to succeed Tony Tyler as IATA boss |
De Juniac, who held the top post at Air France-KLM for three years, is well versed in airline politics, a critical attribute for the sometimes volatile atmosphere at IATA member meetings. Before he took the top job at the European airline group, he was chief executive of Air France, where he oversaw a cost reduction program.
When he moved up to chief executive at AFI/KLM he has had to continue an efficiency drive across the group and he has produced results. Under his leadership, the airline group has become more productive. It reported an operating profit of $908 million for 2015 following losses in the four previous years.
De Juniac is a graduate of France’s elite Ecole Nationale D’Administration. He began his career at France’s Council of State in 1988. He joined the cabinet of Nicolas Sarkozy at the French Budget Ministry in 1993, as Technical Advisor to the Minister of the Budget.
He left government in 1995 and held senior roles at Thales, formerly known as Thomson-CSF, and Sextant Avionique, including stints running several Thales divisions in Asia, the Middle East and Latin America. In his last position at Thales he was general manager for Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, equipping him with global experience that will serve him well at IATA.
He returned to France as chief of staff to Christine Lagarde, the Minister for the Economy, Industry and Employment, from 2009 to 2011. Lagarde is now managing director of the International Monetary Fund.
De Juniac was appointed chairman and CEO of Air France in 2011 before he moved up to chairman and CEO of the Air France/KLM group in 2013.
The fifty-three-year Frenchman has had a three-year struggle to contain costs amid fierce union resistance. His strategy was to shift short-haul Air France flights, that did not connect with lucrative long-haul trips, to the lower-cost units, Transavia and Hop!, to compete with LCCs, Ryanair and EasyJet.
Union opposition stymied that plan. In 2014, a 10-day strike over proposals to base Transavia planes outside France, sidestepping pilot opposition, led to a government-enforced climbdown. Last October, violence forced managers to flee from a meeting over a fence. Their undignified exit left their clothes in shreds and made headlines around the world.
A January deadline aimed at securing savings from pilots has been pushed back to later this year and will be in the hands of de Juniac’s successor. He also has had to deal with Air France-KLM losing market share on intercontinental routes as Gulf carriers, led by Dubai’s Emirates, feed more Asia-bound traffic through their home hubs using big fleets of new wide-body jets.
While some observers might assume IATA will bring more sedate times for de Juniac, it is almost certain that will not be the case, given the issues facing the airline industry.
De Juniac’s appointment was announced last month, when the chairman of IATA’s Board of Governors, Aeromexico chief executive, Andres Conesa, said the Board was “very pleased” to recommend him to lead the association.
“Under Tony Tyler’s leadership, IATA has grown stronger. This has been achieved by building partnerships with industry and governments and by increasing the diversity of business models. IATA’s membership has grown to 264 airlines.
“Alexandre’s broad experience in aviation and government makes him the ideal candidate to take our association to even greater heights.”
De Juniac said: “Tony Tyler has done a great job at the helm of IATA and I am excited to succeed him. IATA has a critical role to play in supporting the success of the aviation industry - leading advocacy, safeguarding the industry’s money, building the standards that underpin global connectivity and partnering with stakeholders and governments to drive important changes. I look forward to leading IATA as it supports safe, efficient and sustainable global connectivity.”
De Juniac resigned from the Air France KLM group in April and is undertaking a short handover period in his transition to the IATA leadership.
IAG chief executive, Willie Walsh, will succeed Conesa as chairman of the association’s board of airline governors at the Dublin AGM.
