The International Air Transport Association announced that Muhammad Ali Albakri will join IATA as regional vice-president for Africa and the Middle East. Albakri’s appointment is effective January 1, 2017 and he will be based in the IATA regional office in Amman, Jordan. “Muhammad Ali Albakri is stepping into a critical role at IATA. While the [Africa and the Middle East] region has tremendous potential, it also faces some big challenges," said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s director general and CEO.
"I am confident that Muhammad’s solid aviation background will deliver great value to our members and aviation in general across AME,” he added, according to Travel Daily News.
Albakri, a Saudi national and aviation veteran, will lead IATA’s regional office for AME where a total of 124 employees are responsible for IATA’s operations across 68 countries. This includes the operation of IATA’s settlement systems which efficiently handle some $23 billion of industry money annually across 38 countries.
The fast-growing AME region is home to 58 of IATA’s 265 member airlines and accounts for 11.6% and 15.5% of global traffic in terms of revenue passenger kilometers and freight tone kilometers, respectively. Aviation supports some 9 million jobs and $130 billion of GDP across Africa and the Middle East.
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