Air Canada's Rovinescu is New IATA Chairman

Doha, June 03 (QNA) - The International Air Transport Association (IATA) Tuesday announced Air Canada President and CEO Calin Rovinescu has assumed his duties as Chairman of the IATA Board of Governors for a one-year term, effective immediately. Rovinescu succeeds Delta Air Lines CEO Richard H. Anderson whose one-year term expired at the conclusion of the Associations 70th Annual General Meeting (AGM) and World Air Transport Summit in Doha. Commenting on his appointment, Rovinescu said, "As we continue to celebrate 100 years of commercial aviation, I am excited at the opportunity of taking on the Chairmanship of the IATA Board of Governors. "Air transport delivers enormous benefits to the global economy every day. I look forward to working closely with Director General and CEO Tony Tyler to encourage and support industry and government policies and practices that will enable aviation to play an even bigger role in the global economy during the second century of commercial flight." Welcoming Rovinescu, Tyler said, "On behalf of IATAs 240 members, I want to extend our thanks to Richard for his strong leadership during a year in which an historic agreement to develop a market-based measure to manage aviation's carbon emissions was reached through the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) with the strong support of IATA. "Under Richards leadership, IATA partnered with key stakeholders to deliver significant results. We worked with ICAO and governments to modernize the approach of the Tokyo Convention on the treatment of disruptive passengers. "We concluded a formal partnership with Airports Council International (ACI) on a broad range of issues. This includes the Smart Security initiative, which aims to strengthen security, increase operational efficiency, and improve the passenger experience. "We worked with the travel value chain to build trust and support for the development of the standards for the New Distribution Capability (NDC), for which the US Department of Transportation gave tentative approval in May." "Calin will be a fitting successor to Richard. His proven leadership will be crucial as IATA works with our industry and government partners to address a number of priorities, including aircraft tracking, improving safety in Africa, and continuing to support ICAO efforts to draft a market-based measure," said Tyler. IATA also announced that the Board of Governors appointed Aeromexico CEO Andres Conesa to serve as Chairman from June 2015 following Rovinescu's term. (QNA)