The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that Lufthansa Group chief executive officer Carsten Spohr has assumed his duties as chairman of the IATA Board of Governors (BoG) for a one-year term.
This became effective from the conclusion of the 75th IATA Annual General Meeting in Seoul on 3 June. Spohr is the 78th chair of the IATA BoG. He has served on the BoG since May 2014.
Spohr succeeds Qatar Airways Group chief executive, Akbar Al Baker, who will continue to serve on the BoG.
“I’m honoured and excited to take on this role at this important time for our industry. We face a number of challenges, including growing protectionism, high taxes and trade wars. Probably the greatest challenge of all is sustainability.
“The Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) is a major achievement that will stabilize our carbon emissions from 2020. Now we must map out the path to achieving our much more ambitious 2050 goal – to cut net emissions to half 2005 levels. Aviation is serious about its climate change commitments.
“And we will be pushing hard for governments to do their part by sorting air traffic management inefficiencies and laying the policy framework for the commercialization of sustainable aviation fuels,” said Spohr.
Spohr has been chairman of the executive board of Lufthansa since 1 May 2014. In this role, he manages the Lufthansa Group comprising the business segments Network Airlines, Eurowings and Aviation Services, with around 135,000 employees worldwide.
IATA also announced that JetBlue Airways president and CEO Robin Hayes will serve as chairman of the BoG from June 2020, following Spohr’s term.
