Addendum
Fighting words from IATA director general-designate in acceptance speech
December 1st 2020
Willie Walsh, 59, gave the industry a clear indication of his state of mind when it came to governments and their treatment of aviation in a speech at the International Air Transport Association’s virtual AGM, held in Amsterdam last month. Read More »
Accepting the position of the eighth leader of the airline lobby group and successor to Alexandre de Juniac, Walsh said: “I too am a businessman. I understand how governments operate, but I am even more unhappy and more critical of how they get things done, or more importantly, in many cases how they have failed to get them done.”
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In another section of his speech, Walsh said: “I have spent more than 40 years in this business. About half of them were at the pointy end as a pilot and the other half at the blunt end as a CEO. I know what it takes to succeed. In those 40 years, I have seen first-hand the numerous challenges we have faced and overcome. I have a passion for this industry and a passion for IATA. We need more than ever an effective industry body to serve and represent our interests.
“This year has been the most challenging ever, but let us not forget the virus did not stop us from flying. The virus did not stop our customers boarding our aircraft because we have demonstrated our ability to adapt and to ensure the safety of our customers and our people and we know they want to fly with us.
“They have been denied the freedom we provide, not by a virus, but by a disjointed political response and restrictions put in place by certain governments who have failed to adapt and adopt the sensible measures that would have allowed almost normal air services to continue.
“But there is good news. As Alexandre has said, the building blocks are now in place to allow our industry to get back to the business of freedom and we should be confident in our ability to succeed in this new environment.”
Walsh will succeed de Juniac, who has been IATA director general and CEO during the most turbulent period in the industry’s history, on April 1. Earlier this year, de Juniac, a former CEO and chairman of Air France and Air France KLM among other top level aviation posts, had informed the association of his intention to step down in 2021.
“I did not come to this decision lightly,” de Juniac told the AGM’s delegates. “It has been a privilege of a lifetime to serve the global air transport industry – which I call the business of freedom – as head of IATA.
“Over the last years, IATA has strategically increased its relevance as the voice of the global airline industry. This has been evident in the COVID-19 crisis.”
During this time, the association embarked on the course to recovery and also restructured IATA “to support the industry recovery with an organization dimensioned to serve a smaller industry”, he said.
“Now is the right time to hand over IATA’s leadership for the long process of recovery,” de Juniac said.
IATA Board of Governors chairman and Lufthansa CEO, Carsten Spohr, said: “Alexandre has led our industry in extraordinary times.
“Under his leadership, IATA has become a stronger and an even more relevant organization. I am joined by all members of the Board of Governors in thanking him for his service and wishing him well in his next endeavours.
“I am also pleased we are able to present a very capable candidate to succeed Alexandre in this important role. “I am convinced Willie will be a great director general for IATA.”
