De Juniac takes over at IATA

IATA has named Air France-KLM chief executive Alexandre de Juniac as its new head. He replaces Tony Tyler, who retires in June.  De Juniac is expected to take over in Geneva by June.

De Juniac, 53, joined Air France in 2011 from the French treasury, where he was senior aide to then-finance minister and future IMF head Christine Lagarde.

One of his first tasks was to restructure Air France-KLM in the face of union hostility and as head of IATA he will be trying to ease tensions between Middle East carriers and other airlines over government subsidies and other issues.

He has been a fierce critic of the Gulf carriers which are building market share at the expense of Europe’s airlines.

IATA represents 260 carriers, or 80% of the world's airline industry.

A successor at Air France-KLM for de Juniac, who had been given a new four-year mandate last May and whose appointment had not been widely expected, has not yet been announced. The airline, where the French government holds 17.6% of the shares, said it was planning to appoint head-hunters to find “the best person to take over the job”.  www.iata.com

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