MONTREAL, June 3, 2014 /CNW Telbec/ - The International Air Transport Association (IATA) today announced that Calin Rovinescu, President and CEO of Air Canada, has assumed his duties as Chairman of the IATA Board of Governors for a one-year term, effective immediately.

"As we continue to celebrate 100 years of commercial aviation, I am excited at the opportunity of taking on the Chairmanship of the IATA Board of Governors. Air transport delivers enormous benefits to the global economy every day. I look forward to working closely with IATA Director General and CEO Tony Tyler to encourage and support industry and government policies and practices that will enable aviation to play an even bigger role in the global economy during the second century of commercial flight," said Calin Rovinescu.

Mr. Rovinescu succeeds Richard H. Anderson, CEO of Delta Air Lines, whose one-year term expired at the conclusion of the Association's 70th Annual General Meeting (AGM) and World Air Transport Summit in Doha, Qatar.

"Calin will be a fitting successor to Richard. His proven leadership will be crucial as IATA works with our industry and government partners to address a number of priorities, including aircraft tracking, improving safety in Africa, and continuing to support ICAO efforts to draft a market-based measure to manage aviation's carbon emissions. I know I can count on Calin to provide strong support for the New Distribution Capability (NDC) initiative to modernize the standard for transmission of airline product offers," said Tony Tyler.

Calin Rovinescu joined Air Canada in 2000 as Executive Vice President, Corporate Development and Strategy. In addition, he held the position of Chief Restructuring Officer during the airline's 2003-2004 restructuring. From 2004 until he rejoined Air Canada in 2009 in his current position, Mr. Rovinescu was a Co-founder and Principal of Genuity Capital Markets, an independent investment bank. Prior to 2000, he spent more than 20 years in the legal profession, including serving as the Managing Partner at Stikeman Elliott in Montreal.

IATA (International Air Transport Association) represents some 240 airlines comprising 84% of global air traffic.

About Air Canada

Air Canada is Canada's largest domestic and international airline serving more than 180 destinations on five continents.  Canada's flag carrier is among the 20 largest airlines in the world and in 2013 served more than 35 million customers.  Air Canada provides scheduled passenger service directly to 60 Canadian cities, 49 destinations in the United States and 73 cities in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australia, the Caribbean, Mexico and South America. Air Canada is a founding member of Star Alliance, the world's most comprehensive air transportation network serving 1,269 airports in 193 countries.  Air Canada is the only international network carrier in North America to receive a Four-Star ranking according to independent U.K. research firm Skytrax that ranked Air Canada in a worldwide survey of more than 18 million airline passengers as Best Airline in North America in 2013 for the fourth consecutive year.  For more information, please visit: www.aircanada.com.

SOURCE Air Canada

Image with caption: "Calin Rovinescu, President and Chief Executive Officer (CNW Group/Air Canada)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20140603_C8224_PHOTO_EN_41025.jpg