The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that Roberto Alvo, CEO of LATAM Airlines Group, has taken up duties as Chair of the IATA Board of Directors. His one-year term began at the conclusion of the 82nd IATA Annual General Meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 8 June 2026. Alvo is the 84th Chair of the IATA Board of Directors on which he has served since 2020. Alvo succeeds Luis Gallego, CEO of International Airlines Group (IAG). Gallego will continue to serve on the Board.

When the airline industry’s leaders last gathered in Rio de Janeiro for an IATA Annual General Meeting in 1999, Latin American aviation occupied a very different place in the global system. At the time, the region accounted for just 4% of global air traffic and carried around 68 million passengers annually. Its airlines were largely domestic champions, operating fragmented networks with limited international reach. LAN and TAM, the two carriers that would eventually merge to create LATAM Airlines Group, operated separately, carrying a combined 12 million passengers with fleets totalling just over 100 aircraft.