Bisignani set to leave IATA

IATA director general and CEO, Giovanni Bisignani, announced earlier today that he would be standing down from his industry position following next year’s IATA AGM in Cairo, Egypt.

Bisignani said he had served nine years at the helm of the airline organisation and that the time had come for him to move on.

Accepting his resignation was Wolfgang Mayrhuber, Lufthansa CEO, who stressed that the resignation was accepted with reluctance and said that Bisignani’s tireless energy would be difficult to replace. Speaking tonight at the Gala Dinner at Berlin’s Tempelhof Airport, Mayrhuber described the popular director general by saying: “Giovanni is like an espresso. Quite small, very strong and loved all over the world”.

The search is already on for Bisignani’s replacement, with a professional recruitment company being brought in to assist in finding the correct candidate.

In the audience tonight was astronaut and researcher, Neil Armstrong, who was earlier today awarded IATA’s Global Aviation Leadership Award.

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Lucy Siebert

Berlin, Germany