Dubai: SITA, the air transport communication and IT specialists, could face a revolt at its annual general assembly this week by shareholder airlines urging structural and governance reform.
Akbar Al Baker, Qatar Airways’ chief executive, and Willie Walsh, British Airways’ parent company International Airlines Group’s chief executive, led calls earlier this month for the organisation to reform.
The annual general assembly is being held at SITA’s 15th Air Transport IT Summit in Brussels on Wednesday.
Walsh said that a number of shareholder airlines are “concerned” with the “overly complex” structure of SITA. Around 90 per cent of global airlines are members of SITA.
Walsh also said that concerned airlines had proposed a motion at SITA’s annual meet to call for a review of the organisations governance.
Al Baker, who is also this year’s International Air Transport Association (IATA) president, has questioned whether SITA is serving the airlines that own it.
“Individuals who are not in the industry, should not occupy board membership,” he said.
The calls for reform came at the IATA annual meet held in Doha earlier this month.
Akbar said he wanted those “serving the industry [to be held] more accountable” as he lashed out at SITA.
The Air Transport IT Summit is expected to look at the influence of IT on aviation business models.
Airlines around the world are battling with shrinking operational space whether it be London Heathrow’s need for a third runway or the Arab Gulf with its air traffic congestion problem.
Tony Tyler, IATA director general and chief executive, Craig Kreeger, Virgin Atlantic chief executive, and Paul Coby, Chair of the SITA Board, are just some of the scheduled speakers at this week’s summit.
