Article from BTNews 6 APRIL 2020
IATA AGM postponed
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has, not surprisingly, announced the postponement of the 76th Annual General Meeting (AGM) and World Air Transport Summit. The event had been scheduled to take place on 22-23 June in Amsterdam.
IATA anticipates that it will now be in the late third or early fourth quarter of 2020 before the great majority of the world’s airlines get together for what is a vital gathering. It is a trade association rather than a UN official organisation as with ICAO and does not include some large ‘low cost’ carriers, typically easyJet and Ryanair in Europe. The AGM signals a change of chairman, currently Carsten Spohr of Lufthansa.
“Our members are in the deepest crisis the air transport industry has ever faced. With much of the passenger business grounded as part of the global fight to contain the virus, many airlines are in a struggle to remain viable. On the cargo side, airlines are doing whatever they can to keep global supply chains moving with vital shipments, including those for critical medical supplies.
"We will come together as an industry when the freedom to travel has been restored and we can focus on air transport’s critical role in driving the economic and social recovery from this unprecedented crisis,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s director general and CEO.
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