IATA Annual General Meeting News
From Havana to Rio: How IATA Helped Build the Modern Aviation Industry
As aviation leaders gather in Rio de Janeiro for the 82nd IATA Annual General Meeting (AGM) and World Air Transport Summit (WATS), they return to a city that occupies a unique place in the history of global aviation. Rio was where, in 1999, IATA formally introduced the World Air Transport Summit, recognising that its annual gathering had evolved into something much larger than a trade association meeting. Aviation had become one of the defining industries of globalization, carrying more than 1.5 billion passengers annually and generating over $300 billion in revenues. The AGM had become the forum where airline leaders, governments, manufacturers, airports and regulators debated the future of an increasingly interconnected world.
Willie Walsh on the Future of Middle East Aviation
The Middle East continues to emerge as a global aviation powerhouse, thanks to a confluence of favorable geography, government support, and significant infrastructure investment. According to Willie Walsh, Director-General of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the region’s success is the result of strategic coordination between governments and airlines, robust infrastructure development, and the creation of both strong hub connectivity and origin-destination traffic.
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Turkish Airlines and THAI strike codeshare agreement
Turkish Airlines and Thai Airways (THAI) have announced a codeshare agreement to drive more passenger traffic between Türkiye and Thailand. The flag carriers signed a joint business agreement in Delhi at the IATA Annual General Meeting on 1 June 2025, extending an alliance that began in December 2023 when Thai Airways launched daily flights from Bangkok to Istanbul.