Royal Brunei Airlines guest speaker
MSc Airline Transport students packed a seminar room to hear insider industry information from Adiel Mambara, Country Manager UK and Ireland for Royal Brunei Airlines.
University of Surrey alumnus, Satheesh Durai, who works as Commercial and Business Development Executive at Flight Directors, set up this expert talk for our current masters students, who were rapt by the fascinating airline industry insights Adiel shared.
The talk was timely as, only the day before, the Government had announced approval of a second runway at London Gatwick, and the weekend before, London Heathrow had been blindsided by a cyber-attack on the check-in and boarding software systems of Collins Aerospace. Both of these incidents proved perfect demonstrations of two of the many challenges the sector faces: expanding capacity to meet increasing demand and external threats to airlines’ infrastructure.
Other challenges which Adiel expanded on were:
- Entrenching sustainability into the business as a matter of urgency, e.g. sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), introducing a zero-emissions aviation framework, imposing levies on premium-class fliers and private jets to fund climate mitigation
- Punctuality of schedules
- Air traffic control challenges in the UK, citing two major air traffic control issues in August 2023 and July 2025 that caused major disruptions, delays and cancellations to airlines
- Modernisation of aerospace – which has remained unchanged since the 1940s
- The slow lead-time for commercial aircraft production
- Sky-rocketing airline operating expenses and other costs associated to operating at airports around the world.
Adiel sped through a potted history of his career and awards, gave an overview of the current health of the sector – buoyant: it exceeds pre-pandemic levels of activity with no sign of abating – and gave his top career tips so students can fly high in the airline industry. The students learned about Royal Brunei Airlines, their destinations and what stands them out from other airlines.
“The airline sector is an amazing industry with a lot of wonderful opportunities,” Adiel concluded, “The pie is big and we can all have a slice of it – it’s that busy!”
Dr Frankie O’Connell, who teaches the Transport Fundamentals module, is delighted at how the Surrey Hospitality and Tourism Management’s alumni community stays in touch, saying, “our alumni actively enhance current students’ learning experience. Satheesh’s suggestion to bring Adiel to speak is an excellent example of our community working to help each other and it was great to see how engaged our students were with what Adiel was saying.”
Satheesh said: “Coming from a place where aviation is still emerging, I am deeply committed to learning and advancing within the industry. My vision is to pave the way for the next generation of aviation leaders – empowering them to dream bigger, achieve more, and carry the field further than I ever could.
"I’m so pleased I persuaded Adiel to come to talk to this year’s cohort of MSc students. He has invaluable insight and a depth of knowledge; I remember from when I was at Surrey how hearing from a practitioner who has direct professional experience of working in the airline industry makes your learning come alive!”
