Global airline CEOs gather amid cloudy business travel outlook

Top airline executives from around the world will assemble next week for their first face-to-face gathering in more than two years even as a long-anticipated rebound in global corporate travel remains a distant prospect. The IATA’s annual general meeting, which was held virtually in 2020, will open on Sunday in Boston. Airline leaders are intent on showing up for in-person elbow bumps to demonstrate it’s safe to fly for business again. It’s part of an effort to revive a highly profitable segment of the industry beset by uncertainty over shifting return-to-office plans. Similar conferences in other industries have been canceled or relegated to webcasts. But not for a business that’s all about getting there. “We believe that it is vital to do all we can to meet as an industry face-to-face,” Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s former director general, said earlier this year in an announcement postponing the event to October from June. “Doing so will affirm that airlines can safely connect the world, demonstrate our industry’s resilience, and confirm the inestimable value of in-person meetings.” US airlines will be well represented, with CEOs from American Airlines, Delta and United joining JetBlue Airways’ Robin Hayes, who is chairman of IATA’s board of governors this year. Many European executives also will attend, including Luis Gallego, CEO of British Airways parent IAG, Carsten Spohr of Lufthansa and Pieter Elbers of KLM. Boeing and Airbus officials are scheduled as speakers. <br/>