Senior management at the International Air Transport Association (Iata) will use this week's annual meeting in Beijing to convince disgruntled members it is no longer an "old-boys' club", according to its director general, Tony Tyler.
This, Iata's 68th annual general meeting (AGM), comes as the airline industry finds itself in the grip of a series of global crises over profitability, fuel costs and network expansions.
Over the past year, however, the association has been locked in a row with a number of Gulf carrier members, most notably Qatar Airways and Emirates Airline, on the way it does business.
At last year's AGM in Singapore, Tim Clark, the president of Emirates Airline, had some stinging words for the outgoing Iata chief Giovanni Bisignani.
"Clearly, there is the view that this is an entity that is run for the few by the few, and that has to end," Mr Clark said. "You must, in the view of Emirates, open up the dialogue far more ... we need to see action."
As well as acting as advocate for the global airline industry, one of Iata's main roles is to help member airlines do business, acting as an exchange for everything from passenger bookings to buying fuel.
However, at Singapore the association was openly accused of favouring the established airlines, and taking decisions on its operations behind closed doors
Immediately after taking up the role of director general at the Singapore conference, Mr Tyler travelled to the Middle East to defuse the row and to assure its members it was working to improve transparency.
"Iata has traditional European carriers who see themselves challenged by the new groups in the Middle East, and we've got the Middle East carriers who see themselves as representing the more modern way of doing things. So I wanted to make sure I understood the viewpoints from everybody.
"What we saw [in Singapore] was a bit dramatic and unusual, but the underlying sentiment is positive. You've got a bunch of busy people who are not too busy to care about Iata." Mr Tyler and the Iata chairman Peter Hartman have drawn up a series of proposals to ensure the association maintains transparency in its business operations, and these will be put to Iata members this week.
"I think what we are bringing to the table now is a more transparent Iata", said Mr Hartman.
"After the discussions we had in Singapore, it was absolutely necessary that we brought a more transparent approach."
Mr Hartman said the association was keen to put the row behind it and concentrate on the serious issues facing the industry.
"We are in extremely turbulent times," he said. "We have no clue how the [financial] crisis in Europe will evolve, what the fuel price will do, or how the political instability in the Middle East will develop."
And on the European Union's emissions trading scheme that threatens to penalise airlines using European airspace over their carbon emissions, he re-stated Iata's policy.
"We are not supportive of a system." said Mr Hartman.
dblack@thenational.ae
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Japan 30-10 Russia
Tries: Matsushima (3), Labuschange | Golosnitsky
Conversions: Tamura, Matsuda | Kushnarev
Penalties: Tamura (2) | Kushnarev
THE SCORES
Ireland 125 all out
(20 overs; Stirling 72, Mustafa 4-18)
UAE 125 for 5
(17 overs, Mustafa 39, D’Silva 29, Usman 29)
UAE won by five wickets
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DSC Eagles 23 Dubai Hurricanes 36
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Tries: Bright, O’Driscoll
Cons: Carey 2
Pens: Carey 3
Hurricanes
Tries: Knight 2, Lewis, Finck, Powell, Perry
Cons: Powell 3
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BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE
Starring: Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, Jenny Ortega
Director: Tim Burton
Rating: 3/5
MATCH INFO
Europa League final
Who: Marseille v Atletico Madrid
Where: Parc OL, Lyon, France
When: Wednesday, 10.45pm kick off (UAE)
TV: BeIN Sports
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre 4-cylinder petrol
Power: 154bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Transmission: 7-speed automatic with 8-speed sports option
Price: From Dh79,600
On sale: Now
Teams
Pakistan: Sarfraz Ahmed (captain), Mohammad Hafeez, Sahibzada Farhan, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Khan Shanwari, Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim, Faheem Ashraf.
New Zealand: Kane Williamson (captain), Corey Anderson, Mark Chapman, Lockie Ferguson, Colin de Grandhomme, Adam Milne, Colin Munro, Ajaz Patel, Glenn Phillips, Seth Rance, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor.
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Left Bank: Art, Passion and Rebirth of Paris 1940-1950
Agnes Poirer, Bloomsbury
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