Air France chair — CEO elected to head IATA board of governors

Jean-Cyrill Spinetta, chairman and CEO of Air France was elected as chairman of the International Air Transport Associations Board of Governors for 2004-2005.

Spinetta takes over from Isao Kaneko, chairman of Japan Airlines who ended his extra-ordinary two-year term with the closing of IATAs 60th Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Singapore.

"I thank Isao Kaneko for leading the Board through two of the most difficult years in our history. His leadership kept IATA relevant and at the forefront of our industry’s issues leading an ambitious agenda for change," said Spinetta in a statement.

"As we move forward with simplifying our business processes, the role of IATA to make change happens has never been more critical," said Spinetta. "My priority is to pull our industry’s stakeholders, including governments and industry partners, along with the airlines as we rebuild the industry’s structures.";

The industry is at a turning point and visionary direction is essential. Both Kaneko and Spinetta are at the leading edge of the structural changes the industry needs to achieve.

"I thank Mr. Kaneko for his strong support over the last two years and look forward to continuing to drive change throughout the industry with the leadership of Spinetta," said Giovanni Bisignani, Director General and CEO of IATA.

The Annual General Meeting (AGM) was attended by over 600 delegates representing airlines from around the world.

This was the first AGM and World Air Transport Summit to be held in Singapore since 1976. The IATA AGM will next meet on May 29-31, 2005 in Tokyo, Japan.