A plane of Iberia, company that is part of IATA.
The Diplomat. 29/03/2018
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) chose Madrid to host its new global operation centre and, from the capital, it will manage the 280 airlines that belong to this organization. That represents 83% of the world traffic with a volume of sales of around 315 million air tickets, which means more than 125,000 million euros.
IATA will also control around 50,000 travel agents and carriers. To develop these new tasks, this international organization has decided to increase the Spanish staff from 260 employees up to 330 by the end of 2018. Employees of 60 nationalities will work in its offices, which are in the Europa Tower, one of the most famous buildings of Paseo de la Castellana that has become the most intelligent building of our country.
The European region was already managed from Madrid, but, as of now, the association will also manage the regions of North America, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and part of Asia. As well as its importance as centre of operations, Madrid’s headquarters has experts in airports, transport, air security, flight operations and finances, among other issues.
Since Madrid was elected in 2008 to be the headquarters of the European office, the Spanish delegation has experienced an “unstoppable” growth, according to a statement of the office of Marca España. Among the reasons argued by IATA for the choice of Madrid and its main headquarters is the multicultural and cosmopolitan character of the city, as well as its capacity to attract international talent.
The regional vice-president for Europe of IATA, Rafael Schvartzman, pointed out that the cooperation of the Government of Spain was fundamental for the final election of Madrid and its new global operation centre. “Therefore, IATA contributes to Madrid turning into one of the big cities of the world aviation, prevailing over other big cities such as Beijing and Singapore, where the corporation also has operation centres”, the statement concluded.
