Former Cathay Pacific chief executive, Tony Tyler, has been confirmed to succeed Giovanni Bisignani as IATA director general and chief executive.

Tyler - pictured - will assume the role from July 1st 2011, at which time the outgoing Bisignani will become director general emeritus.

The announcement was made at the close of the 68th IATA Annual General Meeting.

At the same time it was confirmed Peter Hartman, president of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines will succeed David Bronczek, chief executive of FedEx Express, as chairman of the IATA Board of Governors.

This follows the completion of Bronczek’s one-year term, with the change effective immediately.

“IATA’s leadership touches all the critical industry issues from safety and security, to environment and simplifying the business,” said Hartman.

“We must continue our joint efforts towards a sustainable aviation industry, to deliver the needed change to react quickly to crises, and also to proactively modernise processes and spread best practices.”

Tony Tyler

Tyler, who has worked with Cathay Pacific Airways since 1978, served as the airline’s chief executive from 2007 until his retirement in March 2011.

Concurrent with this function, Tyler also served on the IATA board of governors from 2007 to March 2011 and was its chairman from June 2009 to June 2010.

“Leading IATA is a heavy responsibility,” he said following confirmation of his appointment.

“My goal is to make the world a better place for airlines to do the important business of connecting 2.8 billion people and 48 million tonnes of cargo.”

IATA represents some 230 airlines comprising 93 per cent of scheduled international air traffic around the world.