The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced a decision of its Board of Governors (BoG), unanimously approved at an IATA BoG meeting today, to recommend Alexandre de Juniac, chairman and CEO of Air France-KLM, to succeed retiring director general and CEO, Tony Tyler. With confirmation by the IATA Annual General Meeting to be held 1-3 June 2016 in Dublin, Ireland, de Juniac will take up duties as the head of the association after a short handover period.

“The IATA Board of Governors is very pleased to recommend Alexandre de Juniac to lead IATA. Under Tony Tyler’s leadership IATA has grown stronger. This has been achieved by building partnerships across the industry and with governments, and by increasing the diversity of business models within IATA’s membership that 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,” said Andrés Conesa, CEO of Aeromexico and chairman of the IATA Board of Governors.

“I am honored by the confidence of my industry colleagues and mindful of the heavy responsibilities that the director general and CEO bears,” said de Juniac. “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,” he said.

De Juniac joins IATA from Air France-KLM where he has served as chairman and CEO since 2013. Prior to that, he was the chairman and CEO of Air France (2011-2013). Under de Juniac’s leadership Air France and the Air France-KLM Group have undergone a successful restructuring to improve efficiency and strengthen performance. From 1995 to 2009 de Juniac held various leadership positions in Thales (the French aerospace, defense and transport company previously known as Thomson-CSF). In his last position at Thales, de Juniac was responsible for the company’s operations and sales in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America.

De Juniac has also held positions in the French government.  His career began with the Conseil d’Etat (State Council) from 1988 to 1993.  Subsequently, he served in the Department of Budget as a technical advisor and was then Deputy Chief of Staff in the cabinet of Nicolas Sarkozy (1993-1995); and in the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Employment as Chief of Staff to then Minister Christine Lagarde (2009-2011).

“Alexandre will be a great leader for IATA. He knows the business well and brings valuable experience from both government and industry.  I am sure that he will keep IATA close to its members and fully focused on delivering the value that they expect from their association. I can’t think of a better person to lead the IATA team and I look forward to handing over the job in a few months’ time.  Until then, I remain fully committed to my duties and await an exciting AGM in Dublin with great interest,” said Tyler.