IATA to Establish Office in Abu Dhabi

IATA will open a regional office in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE, effective 1 June 2013.

The office will cover activities in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar, in addition to the UAE.

The agreement that IATA has signed with the Government of the United Arab Emirates supersedes an agreement with the Sharjah Airport Authority, under which IATA’s first office in the UAE was established in 1996.

Tony Tyler, IATA’s Director General and CEO, said, “I thank our hosts in Sharjah for their support over the last 17 years. Over that period our activities have grown rapidly in parallel with the development of the airlines in the Gulf area. Having formalized our position at the national level, I am confident that we will be able to provide the region with even more effective support for its impressive development.”

The Abu Dhabi office will report to the Association’s Middle East and North Africa Regional Office in Amman, Jordan. Together they will make available the full range of IATA’s services and member benefits to airlines operating in the region. This includes managing the local operations of the IATA Industry Settlement Systems, the IATA Operational Safety Audit and delivering leadership as the industry establishes and implements global standards to support the flagship Simplifying the Business program, among other activities.