Albakri is IATA’s new regional VP for Africa and Middle East

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that Muhammad Albakri, IATA’s regional vice president for Africa and the Middle East (AME), will be appointed senior vice president for customer, financial and digital services (CFDS), based in Geneva.

The position will be effective 1 March 2021.

At that time Aleks Popovich, who currently holds the position, will retire.

“Over the past 16 years Aleks has driven some of the most critical elements of IATA’s operations, while leading major transformational projects for the airline industry. This includes IATA’s financial settlement products, which securely processed $457 billion of industry money in 2019, during a time of tremendous innovation in financial technology. And he delivered critical flagship programs that continue to change the industry—introducing cost-effective self-service options under the banner of Simplifying the Business, enabling airline retailing with New Distribution Capability (NDC), and streamlining decades of legacy processes with ONE Order. Aleks leaves behind a great team with a clear focus on customer service that will continue to drive critical changes under the capable leadership of Muhammad,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s director general and CEO.

Albakri joined IATA in January 2017 after more than a decade in the leadership team of Saudi Arabian Airlines where he successfully fulfilled the roles of Chief Financial Officer, Chief Information Officer and Senior Vice President for Transformation. At IATA, Albakri has been an agent of change, transforming the Africa and Middle East regional team to better serve member needs and pioneering the work of IATA’s Digital Transformation Advisory Council.

“Muhammad is well prepared to guide the development of IATA’s commercial offerings, settlement services and digital leadership. In normal times, these are critical functions—even more so in the middle of an industry crisis,” said de Juniac.