The International Air Transport Association (IATA announced that RwandAir CEO Yvonne Manzi Makolo will serve as Chair of the Board of Governors from June 2023, when the term of current chair Mehmet Tevik Nane comes to an end.
Nane is the 80th chair of the IATA BoG. He has served on the BoG since 2019. He succeeds JetBlue Airways CEO Robin Hayes, who will continue to serve on the BoG.
Makolo will be the first woman to take on these duties after being named chair-elect at IATA’s 78th Annual General Meeting in Doha.
Yvonne Manzi Makolo is a Rwandan IT specialist and business executive, who serves as the managing director and chief executive officer of Rwandair, the national airline of Rwanda. She was appointed to that position on 6th April 2018
IATA Director General’s Tribute to Robin Hayes
“The entire membership owes a huge debt of gratitude to Robin. He assumed the Chair position in November 2020 at a point when international air travel was still largely shut down, and he agreed to extend his term through the current recovery. Under his leadership, the industry approved the historic goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, worked closely with governments and international organizations to introduce bio safety measures to further reduce the low risk of transmission during air travel, and continued to make strong progress on our 25 by 2025 gender diversity initiative,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General.
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