{"id":35206,"date":"2026-07-26T06:23:51","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T06:23:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=35206"},"modified":"2026-07-26T06:23:51","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T06:23:51","slug":"in-a-first-the-iata-board-picks-swiss-pakistani-woman-as-the-new-director-general","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=35206","title":{"rendered":"In a first, the IATA board picks Swiss Pakistani woman as the new director-general"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/n_670_395\/public\/2026\/07\/25\/4734649-1808715859.jpg?itok=q_aHz4_J\" alt=\"File picture of Saadia Zahidi (Courtesy: IATA)\" title=\"File picture of Saadia Zahidi (Courtesy: IATA)\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">File picture of Saadia Zahidi (Courtesy: IATA)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Saadia Zahidi, who works at the World Economic Forum, will assume her new role from Nov. 1<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>She is the IATA\u2019s ninth director-general and the first woman ever appointed to the position<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has announced the appointment of Swiss-Pakistani Saadia Zahidi to the position of its director-general by IATA\u2019s Board of Directors, the global aviation body said this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The IATA, which represents over 370 airlines accounting for some 85 percent of global air traffic, supports many areas of aviation activity for a safe, secure, and sustainable global air transport industry that connects the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Zahidi, who will assume her new role from Nov. 1, will be the IATA\u2019s ninth director-general and the first woman appointed to the position. She joins the IATA from the World Economic Forum (WEF), where she is a managing director and a member of the Managing Board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe Board is very pleased to appoint Saadia Zahidi as Director General of IATA. Saadia\u2019s long and outstanding experience at the World Economic Forum will enhance and strengthen IATA as the voice of the world\u2019s airlines,\u201d said Roberto Alvo, chair of the IATA Board of Directors and CEO of LATAM Airlines Group, in a statement issued this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Zahidi holds a BA in Economics from Smith College, an MPhil in International Economics from The Graduate Institute, and an MPA from Harvard University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She founded and currently heads the WEF\u2019s Center for the New Economy and Society. Previously, she has led the WEF\u2019s Global Communications Group, Global Programming Group, and Forum\u2019s engagement with academics, civil society, and international organizations. She has served on the UN Secretary-General\u2019s panel for Women\u2019s Economic Empowerment and the European Space Agency\u2019s High-Level Advisory Group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Zahidi said she was \u201chonored to help advance IATA\u2019s mission to represent, lead, and serve the airline industry\u201d at this pivotal moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAviation is critical infrastructure for economic growth, trade, tourism, jobs, investment, and opportunity. In a rapidly changing world, IATA\u2019s role in bringing the industry together to collaborate through trusted standards, essential services, and advocacy has never been more important,\u201d she said in a statement shared by the IATA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI look forward to working closely with our member airlines, governments, and the ecosystem of partners to build on IATA\u2019s remarkable foundation, ensuring aviation continues to connect the world while embracing innovation, strengthening resilience, and advancing sustainable growth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Reference Link:- <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/2652244\/pakistan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/2652244\/pakistan<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>File picture of Saadia Zahidi (Courtesy: IATA) The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has announced the appointment of Swiss-Pakistani Saadia Zahidi to the position of its director-general by IATA\u2019s Board of Directors, the global aviation body said this week. The IATA, which represents over 370 airlines accounting for some 85 percent of global air traffic, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14369,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[31366,32486,32484,483,27182,32342,32487,32485],"class_list":["post-35206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sample-category","tag-director-general","tag-first-ever-pakistani-women","tag-iata","tag-pakistan-2","tag-pakistani-talent-2","tag-pride","tag-saadia-zahidi","tag-swiss-pakistani","post_format-post-format-aside"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35206"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35207,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35206\/revisions\/35207"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}