Dr Frankie O'Connell

Dr John Frankie O’Connell is currently a Reader in Air Transport at the University of Surrey. Previous to this, he was a  senior lecturer at the Centre of Air Transport Management at Cranfield University where he worked for 10 years, while prior to that he has worked for the Boeing commercial aircraft company as an analyst for a number of years and then for Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (extended campus in California) as an airline lecturer for a further five years. While at Embry-Riddle, he regularly lectured at the NASA Ames research facility at Moffett Field. He has been onsite with over 55 airlines around the world as well as with Airbus and Rolls-Royce in both an advisory and training capacity in the many multifaceted subject areas that pertain to air transport. He has published numerous  academic papers, all of which are airline focused and are pivoted around Airline Management, Strategy, Market analysis, Deregulation and Marketing - he sits on the editorial board of a number of Journals including the Journal of Air Transport Management. His latest book entitled ‘Air Transport in the 21st Century’ has become a very popular manuscript in an academic and commercial context. This interdisciplinary mix of both commercial and academic pursuits has allowed Dr O’Connell to become a competent ‘knowledge broker’ of the airline industry. He has completed a PhD in Airline Strategy and an MSc in Air Transport Management from Cranfield University, together with an MBA (Aviation) from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. He is also a certified IATA instructor and holds a pilot’s licence.