Chairman of IATA was held by Salim Salam, the then Chairman of the Lebanese national carrier – Middle East Airlines.

Eng. Samer Majali has taken over as IATA Chairman at a time when fuel prices are rising unabatedly and the airline industry, among other sectors, is taking a major hit.

How the industry negotiates during these trying times depends on the strategies of respective airlines and how IATA is going to guide the industry.

Here in an interview with R. Chandrakanth, DAFZA Business Focus, Samer Majali talks about the crisis and how IATA is making concerted efforts to tackle the crisis.

You are taking over as Chairman of IATA when there is so much of "turbulence" and it appears that this "turbulence" is likely to intensify as there are no signs of fuel prices finding a plateau? How would you "pilot" the industry during such a critical period?

As chairman of the IATA board of Governors, my job is to support the Director General of IATA Mr Bisignani in his efforts to promote the industries role in the global economy and to assist in dealing with our global challenges.

The first of which is rising fuel prices and the ability of airlines to remain competitive as fare and fuel surcharge increases. The second is the environmental challenge in supporting ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation) to set up a global transparent emission trading scheme rather than unilateral national and regional legislation and taxation. And finally the security and immigration procedures at airports that are reducing the public’s perception of the attractiveness and competitiveness of air travel especially of sectors of 400 kms.

We have seen several airlines folding up in the recent past and many airlines running in the red, I guess this does not augur well for the airline sector? What do you think needs to be done?