The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that Qantas Airways CEO and managing director Alan Joyce has assumed his duties as chairman of the IATA Board of Governors.

Joyce succeeds KLM President and CEO Peter Hartman, whose one-year term expired at the conclusion of the Association’s 68th Annual General Meeting (AGM) and World Air Transport Summit in Beijing.

Joyce’s appointment is effective immediately and is for one year, ending with the conclusion of IATA’s 69th AGM, to be held in Cape Town, South Africa.

A 24-year veteran of the airline industry, Joyce has led Qantas since November 2008. He was CEO of Jetstar from 2003 to 2008. Prior to that, he spent over 15 years in leadership positions at Qantas, Ansett, and Aer Lingus. Joyce is the third Qantas CEO to serve as chairman of IATA’s Board of Governors, following most recently James Strong (1999-2000).

“The top priorities, as always, will be safety, security, and sustainability. On top of that, I want to see IATA continue to deliver value to its members by being a strong advocate for the industry. Aviation delivers enormous economic benefits—supporting some 57 million jobs and $2.2 trillion in economic activity. We need to ensure that governments understand what is at stake when they are making key decisions on taxes, regulation, and capacity expansion.”