Qatar’s Al Baker in IATA board

Qatar – Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker has been voted onto the board of governors of the International Air Transport Association (IATA).Al Baker was selected by fellow airline executives attending IATA’s annual World Air Transport Summit in Beijing.His is a newly-created position to increase representation for Middle East carriers on the revamped 10-member IATA board, a statement said.

IATA represents the interests of over 240 airlines comprising around 85 percent of total air traffic.Qatar Airways has seen rapid growth in just 15 years of operation under the leadership of Al Baker.

The airline currently operates a modern fleet of 109 aircraft to 116 key business and leisure destinations across Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, North America and South America.

Since the beginning of the year, the carrier has launched flights to Baku (Azerbaijan); Tbilisi (Georgia); Kigali (Rwanda); Zagreb (Croatia), Erbil (Iraq), and now Baghdad, with more destinations planned during the second half of 2012.

Meanwhile, Airline industry group IATA warned global profits would more than halve this year owing to surging oil prices and the eurozone crisis, with European carriers suffering losses of $1.1 billion.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) left its 2012 global airline profit forecast unchanged at USD$3 billion, masking a widening gap between regions as only North and South America saw their profit outlook improve.

The Geneva-based grouping of around 240 airlines regularly issues forecasts for an industry whose activities are seen as a barometer of indicators such as business confidence and trade.

In a statement released, IATA said it had downgraded its outlook for European airlines in 2012, projecting losses of $1.1 billion compared with its previous forecast of $600 million in losses.

Carriers in the Middle East, however, are expected to see profits drop by more than half, as are those in the Asia Pacific region – due in part to slowing Indian and Chinese economies.

Growth in China, the world’s second largest economy, slowed to 8.1 percent in the first quarter of 2012 – its slowest pace in nearly three years.