IATA annual general meeting opens in Qatar

Starting from Sunday, the International Air Transport Association’s 78th Annual General Meeting (AGM) will proceed by this Tuesday in Doha, Qatar.

As one of the largest aviation industry’s international events involving airliners, aviation authorities and aircraft manufacturers, the IATA’s AGM discusses ways to boost global cooperation on issues across the industry and seeks an agreement on international guidelines that are applied to airliners and governments. Once agenda items pass the IATA, they are in effect considered the industry’s basic rules, making it by far the most prestigious organization.

Korean Air Chairman Cho Won-tae, as part of the IATA’s board of directors, will join this year’s AGM following last year’s. He is expected to meet up with members of SkyTeam, an international alliance of airliners, and major aircraft businesses such as Boeing and Airbus.

IATA Director General Willie Walsh said in an interview that the aviation industry has gotten out of the COVID-19 crisis paving the way to zero carbon emissions by 2050. He put a special emphasis on this year’s AGM in that the industry improves gender diversity and responds to geopolitical risks arising from the Ukraine situation in 30 years.

This year’s meeting plans to be dedicated to share lessons learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic and measures for the aviation industry to take following the pandemic. It does not only call on ways to cut down on carbon emissions but also guides airliners and aviation authorities on how to respond to uncertainties in external environments such as soaring oil prices following Russia’s invasion into Ukraine.

This year’s IATA AGM was supposed to be held in Shanghai, China. However, given the escalating COVID-19 pandemic and traffic control issues across China, Doha was chosen as an alternative hosting city.


bjk@donga.com