Xabier de Irala has a cosmopolitan background. Born in New York in 1946, he is a Basque who studied mechanical engineering at La Salle University in The Philippines, where he also attained his MBA. He is fluent in English, French, Spanish and Filipino Tagalog. Majority of his career has been spent in the private sector at General Electric and European engineering group ABB.

1971-1986 chief executive officer and other positions, General Electric Espanola. 1986-1987 chief executive officer, GE Portugesa, Lisbon 1987-88 director financial programmes, GE International Operations, London 1988-1990 vice president finance, General Electric, CGR, Paris 1990-1996 executive vice president and chief executive officer, ABB, Spain 1996-April 2001 chairman and chief executive officer, Iberia, Lineas Aereas de Espana April 2001 - chairman

Irala is also the chairman of the board of governors of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and was last year's chairman of the Association of European Airlines (AEA).

He has been awarded the Legion d'Honneur - France's highest civilian honour. Other posts include chairman of FITUR (international tourism trade fair) and president of the Spain-Philippines Joint business Committee. He is a member of IBM's Europe-Middle East Advisory Board.

Source: Airline Business

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