Karen Walker is Air Transport World Editor-in-Chief and Aviation Week Network Group Air Transport Editor-in-Chief. She joined ATW in 2011 and oversees the editorial content and direction of ATW, Routes and Aviation Week Group air transport content.
Karen serves on the board of directors of the International Aviation Club of Washington and was the IAC’s President in 2017-2018.
Karen has been writing about the aerospace and air transport industries for more than 35 years and is a recognized authority and commenter on the airline industry. She is a regular speaker and moderator at aviation events worldwide and a commentator on radio and TV news programs. In 2019, she was a judge and a presenter for IATA’s inaugural diversity awards.
Based in Washington D.C., she gained her degree in journalism in the U.K. and is a multiple winner of the Royal Aeronautical Society’s aerospace journalism awards.
She is the recipient of the Aerospace Media Awards 2021 Aerospace Writer of the Year.
The shooting down of a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200, killing all 298 innocent citizens onboard, never should have happened. Even more awful to contemplate, it could have been worse.
Ten or more years ago, it would have been rare to hear anyone in the airline industry and based in Southeast Asia to talk with envy of the US carriers. But times have changed. These days, East is definitely looking West with a newly learned respect.
When Qatar Airways was relaunched in 1997, there would have been few people who would have predicted that in less than 20 years, this Doha-based carrier would be a Skytrax five-star operation and a oneworld global alliance member flying to more than 140 destinations. On top of those achievements, Qatar is about to become the world’s first airline to operate the Airbus A350 XWB.
