James is a global veteran of the aviation, travel and hospitality industries with more than four decades of senior executive leadership experience.

He is Chairman of Knighthood Global Limited which he set up to offer business advisory, capital structuring and investment services in Aerospace & Aviation, Travel & Tourism, Hospitality, and Real Estate.

James is a Director, Sanad Services Group (Mubadala Company).

He is also a guest lecturer for the EMBA Programme at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China.

He previously served as Group President and Chief Executive of the Etihad Aviation Group where he oversaw the development of Etihad Airways from a USD 300 million airline and its transformation into a travel and tourism group valued at more than USD 20 billion, achieving the mandate from his shareholders to build a world-class diversified aviation and travel group, and securing profitability for five consecutive years from 2011 to 2015.

He also held positions as Vice Chairman and Board member of Alitalia, airberlin, Air Serbia and Jet Airways, and served as Vice Chairman of the Executive Committee of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) and as a member of the IATA Board of Governors. In 2010 James was the Chairman of Aviation, Travel and Tourism Community Governors of the World Economic Forum.

He is a former member of the UBS Industrialisation Advisory Board and Non- Executive Director of the Gallagher Group Ltd.

Prior to this, he was President and CEO of Gulf Air, and held senior executive positions at BMI, Forte Hotels, and Hertz.

In 2017, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for ‘distinguished services to the aviation transport industry, to the development of tourism and trade linkages between Australia and the Gulf States, and to international airline associations’.

His strategic leadership has received global recognition and awards, amongst others, the Executive Award from Airline Strategy, the Aviation Executive of the Year from CAPA, and the ATW Airline of the
Year Award.

In 2024, he was inducted into the Air Transport World Hall of Fame in recognition of his leadership as President and Chief Executive of Etihad Airways between 2006 and 2017.