"We appreciate the kind offer of Temel Kotil, CEO of Turkish Airlines to meet in Istanbul next year—a vibrant centre of economics and culture with a rapidly expanding air transport sector," said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA Director General and CEO at the 2007 IATA Annual General Meeting and World Air Transport Summit which was held in Vancouver, Canada.
The 650 delegates gathered for this year's event that the industry's most important issues were discussed with executive briefing sessions on security and environment. The briefings featured industry leaders including Chew Choon Seng (CEO, Singapore Airlines), Leo Van Wijk (President and CEO, KLM), Steve Ridgway, (CEO, Virgin Atlantic), Maurice Flanagan (Vice- Chairman and Group President of Emirates), Samer Majali (CEO, Royal Jordanian), Marion Blakey (Administrator, US FAA), and Michael P. Jackson (Deputy Secretary US Department of Homeland Security).