Istanbul To Host IATA Congress In 2008

The 64th International Air Transport Association (IATA) Annual General Meeting and World Air Transport Summit will be held in Istanbul in 2008. Turkish Airlines (THY) Director-General Temel Kotil said that the congress would make valuable contributions to promotion of both Turkey and THY in the world.
"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).