Iata puts Akbar Al Baker of Qatar on board

The International Air Transport Association (Iata) has appointed one of its leading critics from the Middle East to its board, and begun a new transparency drive. The moves are part of a major drive to counter allegations that the airline industry body is "an old boys' network". Iata's annual meeting in Beijing this week voted to appoint Akbar Al Baker, the Qatar Airways chief executive, to the board, and reallocated a further permanent board seat to Middle Eastern carriers. The other Middle Eastern seat will be filled by Hossam Kamal, the chief executive of Egyptair Holding. Mr Al Baker led a revolt at last year's Iata conference in Singapore, accusing the airline industry's trade body of "a lack of transparency" in its workings. His concerns were echoed by other Gulf-carrier executives. "Clearly, there is the view that this is an entity that is run for the few by the few, and that has to end," Tim Clark, the president of Emirates Airline, also told the Singapore meeting. "You must, in the view of Emirates, open up the dialogue far more. We need to see action." Iata represents 242 airlines and acts as an advocate for the industry. It also oversees billing and settlements between airlines totalling billions of dollars each year. More than two dozen airlines in the Middle East and North Africa are paying members. Mr Al Baker's demands included a review of Iata's appointment of auditors, and he also cast doubts over the group's financial accounts and auditing process. His concerns followed the discovery of a fraud ring within Iata's Thai offices, where several former employees skimmed US$17 million (Dh62.4m) between 2006 and 2009, including from the accounts of some airlines based in the Gulf. Iata responded by appointing a task force, and at a full meeting of member airline delegates in Beijing yesterday, the Iata chairman, Peter Hartman, saw the board's raft of reforms passed unanimously. The motion to approve the reforms was seconded by Mr Al Baker. "Our transparency and governance processes had been called into question," said Mr Hartman. "I hope members have taken note of efforts to make this process more transparent." "I don't think we were ever an old boys' club," said Tony Tyler,the Iata director general and chief executive "I certainly don't want to run Iata like that. We want to be and are a modern, transparent and responsive organisation. What we saw [in Singapore] was a bit dramatic and unusual, but the underlying sentiment is positive." Iata also said yesterday that Alan Joyce, Qantas Airways' chief executive and managing director, took up the post of Iata board chairman.