Tony Tyler

As long as airlines keep doing well, so does the whole aviation industry. This is true if we just take a second imagining the globe without a single airline operation! What is the benefit of having aviation industry without air transportation services?? GA, corporate aviation, and even military operations are all sectors of aviation that the industry could “survive” without only if it has good airline operations. And when I say airline operations, of course I mean 125 and 135 passengers and cargo. Therefore, in April 1945, the global community realized the importance of founding an international organization in which “represents, leads and serves the global airline industry with a main aim of providing air travelers with safe and secure transportation experiences.” (IATA mission) and that’s for those who don’t know what was the International Air Transport Association founded for.

The reason I’m mentioning IATA above is that its CEO, Tony Tyler, is my guest to present in tonight’s blog. Mr. Tyler is IATA’s sixth Director General and Chief Executive Officer. He accepted the role to lead IATA on July 2011 (pretty recent) and gave a nice speech at that night. To understand how IATA’s CEO could really influence the industry, we should first absorb some fundamental functions of IATA such are, but not limited to, the following:
-Defining standard airlines rules and regulations
-Setting prices for international airfare
-Regulating shipping of dangerous goods
-Accreditation of worldwide travel agencies
-Maintaining industry’s data basis
-Publishing of standards and requirements documentations …. And much more.

For sure, an individual like Mr. Tyler would potentially influence the industry without a doubt for years to come as he will be responsible for critical decisions and approvals of IATA’s new rules and regulations. And as a proof, please have a quick look on what Mr. Tyler thinks about the EU’s ETS issue in this very recent piece of news, a very important topic we talked about in our class weeks ago.

            Mr. Tyler’s potential achievements as a ‘big” executive are not the only things that attracted me writing about him.  His past success with several aviation leading example companies is a key in Mr. Tyler’s personality as a man of influence in the industry. He started in 1977 as a small employee at Swire & Sons in Hong Kong, a very large corporation that performs lots of commercial activities. Mr. Tyler then gradually worked his way up in the company and he joined Cathay Pacific Airline in 1978, another leading international airlines that operates under S&S wing. Eventually in 1996, he became the airline’s director of corporate development followed being the airline’s chief operating officer in 2005 and finally got elected to be Cathay’s CEO in 2007 until he lifted his position to pursue his new job at IATA in mid 2010. Mr. Tyler’s long career in Cathay’s was highly appreciated by the company’s both; stockholders and customers. During his tenure at Cathay, the company acquired Dragon Air, another legacy flag carrier of Hong Kong. Also, Cathay Pacific celebrated its 60^th anniversary while enjoying its great position as the world’s third largest airlines (in terms of market capitalization) and just before he lift Cathay in 2010, the company became the world’s largest cargo airline along with a main cargo hub at HK Int’l Airport as the world’s busiest airport cargo facility.

            When it comes to background, Mr. Tyler is British and he graduated from Oxford University in England as a jurisprudent and then earned a degree in aircraft engineering. A very interesting and strong knowledge that enabled Mr. Tyler to gain S&S trust. Add to that then, a very successful career in Cathay Pacific did its job attracting IATA to bring him in to lead the organization in its seventh decade. Well, I am not sure if you can 100% agree with me if Mr. Tony Tyler was/is an influential to the industry, at least in the Far East. However, I believe we can also wait to see till he really comes up with differential achievements as a CEO of the world’s largest international trade group with over 230 airlines that belong to 150 country members.