Airline CEOs Are Leading Through a New Kind of Turbulence

At this year’s IATA Annual General Meeting in Rio de Janeiro, the mood among airline CEOs reflected both the resilience of the sector and the scale of pressure now facing its leaders. Just before March this year, global aviation was in a period of healthier growth and stronger profitability, with demand returning, networks expanding, and many carriers looking ahead with greater confidence. 

That optimism has not disappeared, but it is now being tested by a more complex operating reality. Fuel volatility, heightened by war in the Middle East, is putting renewed pressure on profitability, pricing, and, in some markets, access. Geopolitical instability is affecting routes and network planning, while aircraft delivery delays continue to limit expansion and product upgrades. At the same time, artificial intelligence is moving quickly into practical use, yet many airlines remain constrained by legacy systems that are difficult to transform. 

For airline CEOs, these pressures are converging into a “simultaneity challenge” unfolding at once, often under shifting conditions. The role now requires leading through several forms of turbulence at the same time. 

Drawing on conversations at the IATA AGM and our work with clients, this article explores what this moment is asking of airline CEOs and how they are evolving as leaders in response.

This “simultaneity challenge” reflects a broader shift across industries. Egon Zehnder’s global CEO Response study found that 92% of CEOs believe they must cultivate unprecedented levels of adaptability to lead through today’s unpredictability, with agility seen as a critical driver of both resilience and long-term success. 

In aviation, that requirement is especially acute. Airlines have always operated with thin margins and high exposure to external shocks. What feels different now is the speed and overlap of today’s pressures. 

Airline CEOs are aware they must balance long-term ambition with short-term disruption, and confidence in staying a course with openness to new information. Against this backdrop, sustaining effectiveness calls for an expansion of leadership capacities. This is less about adding new skills and more about strengthening how CEOs process complexity and make decisions. It requires deeper self-awareness, stronger relational capability, and the ability to adapt continuously as conditions evolve. 

It also requires greater intentionality in how leaders manage their own energy. During the IATA AGM, Egon Zehnder’s Ricardo Sunderland, author of the book “The Energy Advantage: How to Go from Managing Your Time to Mastering Your Energy,” hosted an intimate session with airline CEOs, creating space to reflect on how they show up and sustain their performance through mastering energy across physical, emotional, and mental dimensions. As Sunderland argues, leaders who manage their energy well create more space for reflection and better decision-making both for themselves and their teams. 

In a sector shaped by operational intensity and geopolitical exposure, the mix of experience and insights around the table matters more than ever. One clear priority we heard from airline CEOs was strengthening the Board, both in composition and regarding the quality of discussions.  

A growing number of airlines are seeking to diversify composition by adding aviation and adjacent industry expertise so Directors can engage more deeply on core topics such as M&A, network & fleet decisions, both operational and commercial transformation and enterprise level change and innovation. Boards are also broadening perspectives in areas like digital and customer experience to challenge thinking and bring fresh insight. In parallel, CEOs are also focusing on elevating the quality of dialogue with their Boards so they can collaborate more effectively and act as true sparring partners.

Succession planning, particularly for the CEO seat but also for top CXO roles, is also receiving greater focus. As the CEO role grows in complexity, preparation needs to start earlier and be more structured both for the successor(s) and the executive team. Efforts increasingly focus on developing leaders who can operate across the business and handle ambiguity with confidence. This includes earlier identification of candidates, targeted development programs, and stronger alignment between the CEO, the Board, and the leadership team.  

In a volatile environment, this creates continuity and flexibility, and organizations benefit from having multiple leaders who understand the business deeply and can step into more senior roles when needed.

What emerged clearly in Rio is that this moment is defined by multiple challenges arriving at once, calling for a step-up in CEO leadership. Top airline executives are responding by expanding their capacity, strengthening the teams and Boards around them, and becoming more intentional in how they show up under pressure.  

In aviation, turbulence is expected, but the breadth and intensity of it has multiplied. The defining question is how CEOs stay on course while evolving their leadership to navigate it.