Overview
- IATA’s board announced late July that Saadia Zahidi will become the association’s ninth Director General on 1 November 2026.
- Willie Walsh will step down on 31 July 2026 and Sandrine Le Borgne will serve as Interim Director General from August through October.
- Zahidi joins from the World Economic Forum where she spent more than two decades as a managing director and founded the Centre for the New Economy and Society.
- She is the first woman to lead IATA, which represents more than 370 airlines accounting for roughly 85 percent of global air traffic.
- Board Chair Roberto Alvo said Zahidi’s experience will strengthen IATA’s voice, and her policy and economic background could change how the group engages governments, partners, and industry on issues like sustainability, technology and resilience.