June 6, 2010 - Berlin - The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that Berlin will be world’s aviation capital as the city prepares to host 600 industry leaders for the 66th IATA Annual General Meeting and World Air Transport Summit from 6-8 June 2010.

The official program starts at 0900 CET on 7 June with the State of the Industry address by Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s Director General and CEO.

“We are meeting as the industry continues its recovery from the global financial meltdown and turbulent decade of cycles and shocks that resulted in accumulated losses of nearly $50 billion.

A strong traffic growth trend prior to the setback of the Icelandic volcano is improving the industry’s bottom line prospects. It is finally time for some cautious optimism,” said Bisignani. Among the highlights of the AGM will be the release of a new industry outlook as part of the Director General’s State of the Industry address.

Government and Industry Partnership: Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, CEO of Air France-KLM and CEO, Air France; Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports; Joachim Hunold, CEO of Air Berlin and Emirsyah Satar, President and CEO of Garuda Indonesia will discuss a new relationship between government and industry. They will be joined by Harold Demuren and Gen. Jose Huepe Perez, Directors General of Civil Aviation of Nigeria and Chile, respectively.