The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has announced that Muhammad Ali Albakri will join IATA as Regional Vice President for Africa and the Middle East (AME).

Albrakri’s appointment is effective 1 January 2017 and will be based in the IATA regional office in Amman, Jordan.

Albakri is a Saudi national and aviation veteran. Before his IATA appointment, Albakri served as Executive Vice President for Strategic Projects and Transformation at Saudi Arabian Airlines.

Albakri will lead IATA’s Regional Office for AME where a total of 124 employees are responsible for IATA’s operations across 68 countries. This includes the operation of IATA’s settlement systems which efficiently handle some $23 billion of industry money annually across 38 Countries.

Albakri succeeds Hussein Dabbas who led IATA in the region from 2012 until June, 2016. Among Dabbas’s many leadership contributions during his tenure at IATA was the successful integration of IATA’s activities in the Middle East and Africa into one region.