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Published: 05 August 2025

Five reasons to study a masters in air transport management at Surrey

Our MSc Air Transport Management provides you with a wealth of personal, professional and academic opportunities in the aviation industry.

Here are the top five reasons why you should choose the University of Surrey for your air transport management masters.

1. Access to three subscriber-databases which are used extensively by the industry

a) Cirium: a depository of daily news items from all around the world and considered to be the global leader in aviation data and analytics. It provides an in-depth assessment of more than 900 airlines, 17,000 airports and 114,000 commercial aircraft to help in strategic decision-making.

b) OAG database: gives an in-depth insight into airline and airport data including flight frequency and capacity trends, flight statistics data by route, and airport performance.

c) Sabre Market Intelligence: a robust market intelligence tool providing up-to-date and accurate traffic demand and fare data. Sabre helps in devising effective air service development strategies, building business cases and improving demand forecasts. Much of this information is exclusive to Sabre Market Intelligence users. 

Surrey is the UK’s best university for aviation, and the stand-out factor for me was the incredible faculty and guest speakers who bring real-world insights into airline and airport management. Learning from industry leaders like Dr Frankie O’Connell, Dr Nadine Itani, Professor Anne Graham and Paul Clark has been invaluable.

Mohammed, Air Transport Management MSc student

2. Impressive guest speakers

We continuously bring in senior industry executives who are at CEO or vice president levels to give guest lectures to our students. High-profile experts and speakers who get involved in the course. 

Recent speakers include Rob Britton, former Managing Director for Marketing at American Airlines, Professor Rigas Doganis, Air Transport Adviser to the European Commmission, the UN and the World Bank, Mark Breen (CEO of Oneiros Aerospace; ex CEO of Fly A Deal; ex COO of Oman Air; ex COO of Cebu Pacific) and Sophie Dekkers, Chief Commercial Officer at easyJet.

3. Give yourself a competitive advantage in today’s international job market

Keep up-to-date with current trends and changes within the industry. Surrey won the Best University Careers/Employability Service for 2022 at the National University Employability Awards.

4. Our unique proximity to two of the world’s largest airports

We are situated halfway between London Heathrow and London Gatwick, airports which serve over 120 global airlines. This allows us to develop outstanding links to the industry.

5. Flexibility

Our part-time programme can be accommodated to suit pilot rosters [schedules], airline and airport professionals who are seeking to upgrade their skills in the commercial aspects of the industry.

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