Air transport group to ditch 'old-boys' image

Senior management at the International Air Transport Association will use this week's annual meeting to convince disgruntled members it is no longer an "old-boys' club."

Over the past year the International Air Transport Association has been locked in a row with a number of Gulf carrier members, most notably Qatar Airways and Emirates Airline, on the way it does business. REUTERS/Jason LeeShow less

Senior management at the International Air Transport Association (Iata) will use this week's annual meeting in Beijing to convince disgruntled members it is no longer an "old-boys' club", according to its director general, Tony Tyler.

This, Iata's 68th annual general meeting (AGM), comes as the airline industry finds itself in the grip of a series of global crises over profitability, fuel costs and network expansions.

Over the past year, however, the association has been locked in a row with a number of Gulf carrier members, most notably Qatar Airways and Emirates Airline, on the way it does business.

At last year's AGM in Singapore, Tim Clark, the president of Emirates Airline, had some stinging words for the outgoing Iata chief Giovanni Bisignani.

"Clearly, there is the view that this is an entity that is run for the few by the few, and that has to end," Mr Clark said. "You must, in the view of Emirates, open up the dialogue far more ... we need to see action."

As well as acting as advocate for the global airline industry, one of Iata's main roles is to help member airlines do business, acting as an exchange for everything from passenger bookings to buying fuel.

However, at Singapore the association was openly accused of favouring the established airlines, and taking decisions on its operations behind closed doors

Immediately after taking up the role of director general at the Singapore conference, Mr Tyler travelled to the Middle East to defuse the row and to assure its members it was working to improve transparency.

"Iata has traditional European carriers who see themselves challenged by the new groups in the Middle East, and we've got the Middle East carriers who see themselves as representing the more modern way of doing things. So I wanted to make sure I understood the viewpoints from everybody.

"What we saw [in Singapore] was a bit dramatic and unusual, but the underlying sentiment is positive. You've got a bunch of busy people who are not too busy to care about Iata." Mr Tyler and the Iata chairman Peter Hartman have drawn up a series of proposals to ensure the association maintains transparency in its business operations, and these will be put to Iata members this week.

"I think what we are bringing to the table now is a more transparent Iata", said Mr Hartman.

"After the discussions we had in Singapore, it was absolutely necessary that we brought a more transparent approach."

Mr Hartman said the association was keen to put the row behind it and concentrate on the serious issues facing the industry.

"We are in extremely turbulent times," he said. "We have no clue how the [financial] crisis in Europe will evolve, what the fuel price will do, or how the political instability in the Middle East will develop."

And on the European Union's emissions trading scheme that threatens to penalise airlines using European airspace over their carbon emissions, he re-stated Iata's policy.

"We are not supportive of a system." said Mr Hartman.

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