Iñigo de la Serna welcomes IATA decision to choose Madrid as headquarters for its largest operations centre

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has chosen Madrid as the headquarters for its new global operations centre, from where it has already been managing the European region and will now also begin to manage the regions of North America, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and part of Asia.

From the Spanish capital, IATA will manage the operations of its 280 member airlines. These airlines account for 83% of global air traffic and approximately 150 billion dollars in air fare sales (125.55 billion euros).

The decision will have an unquestionable economic impact given that some 330 people of 60 different nationalities will work at the IATA headquarters to manage air fares and relations with 50,000 travel agents and freight operators for America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia.

These 330 employees will join the 160 who have already been working at the IATA office in Madrid since its decision to choose this city as its regional headquarters for Europe, which will now take on a global scope.

Record 249.2 million passengers in 2017

"The IATA decision to choose Madrid for its headquarters is excellent news for Spain. It clearly responds to the significant investment made by our country and its leadership in the tourism sector after closing 2017 with 82 million tourists, thus positioning itself as the second-most popular tourism destination worldwide", said Iñigo de la Serna.

The Spanish Minister for Public Works also highlighted the importance of Spanish airports at a global level. "Today, we learned that the airports that make up the AENA network closed 2017 with a record 249.2 million passengers, surpassing the passenger traffic figure posted last year by 8.2%", he added.

Furthermore, he remarked that Spain has extraordinary aeronautic, railway, road and port infrastructures that have earned it recognition as "the country with the most competitive tourism industry in the world" for the second straight year by the DAVOS Economic Affairs Forum.

This choice "also represents a demonstration of confidence by IATA in the Spain Brand", added Iñigo de la Serna, who thanked the association for having chosen Madrid as the headquarters for its largest operations centre in the world.

Non official translation