The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that Alexandre de Juniac, director general and CEO will step down from his role at the association effective 31 March 2021. De Juniac made known his intention to step down from the association several months ago which enabled a search process to facilitate a smooth leadership transition.

The IATA board of governors will recommend to the 76th IATA Annual General Meeting (AGM) today the appointment of Willie Walsh, former CEO of International Airlines Group (IAG) to become IATA’s eighth DG from 1 April 2021.

“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. 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 the association 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,” said de Juniac.

De Juniac joined IATA in September 2016 from Air France-KLM where he was chairman and CEO.

“De Juniac has led our industry in extraordinary times. Under his leadership IATA has become a stronger and an even more relevant organisation. I am also pleased that we are able to present a very capable candidate to the 76th IATA AGM to succeed him in this important role,” said Carsten Spohr, chair of the IATA board of governors and CEO of Lufthansa.