Luis Gallego, CEO of the International Airlines Group (IAG), the group that includes airlines such as Iberia, British Airways, Iberia Express and Vueling, received the Best Entrepreneur of the Year Award this afternoon from ACTUALIDAD ECONÓMICA. Gallego receives this distinction in recognition of his career in the aeronautical sector and in particular at IAG, where since his entry in 2013 as head of Iberia Express, he has led the transformation of Iberia to become a mainstay of Spanish tourism and relaunch the hub of Madrid Barajas airport as a gateway between Europe and Latin America.

Gallego, an executive who always highlights his link with aviation from his birthplace, Getafe, thanked the attendees, including Marco Pompignoli, president of Unidad Editorial, Joaquín Manso, director of El Mundo, Stefania Bedogni, and Nicola Speroni, general directors and advisors of the Editorial Unit, Begoña Villacís, deputy mayor of Madrid, Esperanza Casteleiro, director of the CNI, Luis Isasi, Manuel Pérez Sala, president of the Círculo de Empresarios, Javier Sánchez-Priieto, president of Iberia, president of Santander Spain, the president of the Chamber of Commerce of Madrid, Ángel Asensio and Amparo Moraleda, businesswoman and independent director of companies such as Airbus, CaixaBank and Vodafone.

The IAG figures give an idea of ​​its size and the work of Gallego at the helm. He transports 94 million people to 256 destinations and more than 3,980 million tons in warehouses with a team of more than 66,000 people.

All in all, the CEO of IAG and Best Entrepreneur of the Year by ECONOMIC ACTUALITY has highlighted the difficulties that the sector has gone through in overcoming the pandemic crisis in survival mode and has dedicated the award to the effort of those who have moved the sector forward .

He also recalled that in 3 years Iberia went from being one of the worst companies in terms of punctuality in the world to being the most punctual network company in the world. In 2016, CAPA, one of the most relevant organizations in the aviation sector and the tourism industry, recognized Iberia as the best transformation in the industry

“When they ask me how we got it, the answer is simple: we were a team,” he summarized.

The transformation now focuses on IAG, where Gallego has advanced that IAG wants to be the most sustainable airline group in the world. We will be: investing in technology and sustainable aviation fuels.

“We are going to continue investing because we think it is feasible that around 70% of our fuel will be sustainable by 2050. there are very high costs”, he lamented. .

For this reason, Gallego has encouraged the Government to launch initiatives to develop an infrastructure for the production of this fuel within the framework of the transition to renewable energy.

“We should not bet on the SAF only for environmental reasons but also for another reason than ensuring millions of jobs and being a competitive country. And without planes flying, there is no tourism. And in a country like ours where tourism represents the 12.4% of Spanish GDP, 13.2% of employment and where 80% of the tourists who come to us do so by plane, means that the economy stops”, he indicated before concluding in reference to his recognized Madridismo that he will always prefer a Modrick than another player who does not make a team even if he scores goals.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project