WHO WE ARE
JOHN GRANT
I ‘stumbled’ into aviation and some would say am still stumbling my way through! An opportunity to play cricket around the world whilst working for an airline seemed too good an opportunity to miss. But once I’d started and worked through the basics of airline revenue accounting, fare calculations, three letter airport codes and seen how the business work it became a fascinating opportunity for a career in which I’ve met and been inspired by some amazing experiences.
I’ve been fortunate to work across every part of the aviation sector, market research, marketing (oh those Caledonian Girls!), commercial planning, sales, network planning, major airline rebrand, airport operations and business transformation. In all of those exciting roles the one thing I have learnt is the power and knowledge that a good awareness of data brings, great data provides great insight and power; and to those that taught me that lesson, thank you!
I’m really looking forward to using all that experience to make a difference for clients and customers in the coming years and to grow your businesses.
DEIRDRE FULTON
Aviation beckoned early. Summers spent making tannoy calls and manning an airport information desk meant I caught the aviation ‘bug’ at the start of my career. This led to operational and then commercial roles at BAA’s airports in Scotland. Several data heavy jobs later, I found myself adept at interpreting and analysing the numbers then communicating their meaning, often to key decision makers both internally and externally.
As BAA’s dominance of the UK Airport industry began to change, I turned to freelance consulting and have been kept busy on global airport projects ever since. I can’t imagine ever leaving the industry, and there’s still a part of me that misses those operational days so I take great delight in hanging out at airports when I can – much to my family’s dismay!
A typical day might involve generating content for a client’s social media channels, or advising an airport investor on the demand generated in a catchment area for an airport, or crunching numbers for an in-depth piece of analysis to help a tourist board work out which markets to target next. Organising things comes naturally to me and I love the challenge of turning round a piece of work and helping clients to move their businesses forward.
ASSOCIATE PARTNER
MARK CLARKSON
Mark has over 20 years of industry experience spanning airports, aviation consultancy and data analytics.
Most recently the EVP Commercial for OAG, Mark was responsible for developing and securing industry partnerships, accelerating the analytics transformation of the business and supporting large scale customers with their data driven strategies. Utilising his expertise in aviation data and deep use case understanding, this has supported a sustained period of growth for OAG.
Having joined OAG in 2012 as Commercial Director for OAG based in the UK, he was responsible for all commercial activities including strategic partnerships, new product development and consulting. More recently he was based in Singapore for 3 years as Business Development Director APAC, spearheading the sales and marketing team for the region, focussed on restructuring and developing the core analytics business in the region.
Prior to joining OAG in 2012, Mark spent 5 years with aviation consultancy firm Airport Strategy and Marketing (ASM) based in Manchester and London. This primarily involved new route development and network strategies for airports and tourism authorities, including representation services in Asia, as well as roles advising on airport transactions. It also included a secondment at London Gatwick airport where Mark was embedded into the airline development team following the sale of the airport to GIP in late 2009.
He holds a Master of Arts (Honours) degree in Management Studies from the University of Glasgow.
OUR ASSOCIATES
At MIDAS Aviation we are proud to work with a select group of associates that work closely with us on some of our projects.
Not only do our Associates add another dimension to projects but they are also well known in their own right within the Travel Industry.
SUZY MCINTOSH
Suzy has been in the aviation industry for 15 years and has worked for several airlines in Network Planning and Revenue Management and for data provider OAG in Product.
Suzy joined OAG in 2014 and most recently she was Product Director of Analytics where she was responsible for product managing the Analyser suite of products as well as developing the strategy for the next generation of Analytics products connecting to OAG’s new cloud-based platform. As Product Director she was responsible for the Analytics product roadmaps, gathering requirements and creating scope documents for the Development Team, supporting and training the Customer Support and Sales Teams, creating Business Cases and managing stakeholders. Development at OAG was product-led so Suzy also spent a lot of time speaking to customers to validate product ideas.
Prior to OAG Suzy worked at Monarch Airlines in their Analytics Team creating business rules to automate their Revenue Management system AirRM as well as producing weekly reports for the Senior Management Team. Before this Suzy worked for the airlines British Midland (bmi) and bmibaby for 5 years in Revenue Management and Network Planning. In Network Planning at bmi Suzy was involved in generating 5 year plans for bmi’s route network, analysing data for potential new routes and producing new route business cases.
Suzy has a MSc in International Tourism from the University of Lincoln and BSc in Mathematics with Business from Nottingham Trent University.
Nesli Tezgoren
Nesli has over 20 years of experience working on in-depth financial and commercial analyses for infrastructure projects across the world but with a focus on the Middle East.
Her most recent role was with Oman Air where she was in charge of managing commercial systems tools and analytics for the commercial teams. Prior to this she worked in market intelligence and aeronautical revenue pricing for Abu Dhabi Airports. She earned her MBA from Cambridge University and has an engineering degree from Cornell University.
Hannah Pearson
From the UK, Hannah is an Oxford University alumni who specialises in the Southeast Asian tourism industry, based in Kuala Lumpur.
She arrived in Malaysia in 2012 and immersed herself thoroughly into the Southeast Asian travel industry through both B2C and B2B tourism industry roles, from building up outbound travel at one of the largest travel agencies in Malaysia, to founding her own travel startup and being subsequently acqui-hired by Malaysian travel technology company, GoQuo.
In 2018, she launched her boutique tourism consulting and sales representation company, Pear Anderson. Hannah has criss-crossed Southeast Asia, and gained a deep, first-hand insight into the trends developing in the region, as well as a passion for the potential of the Southeast Asian tourism industry.
Her past and present clients include a variety of travel organisations, from tourism boards to attractions and tour operators, with the likes of Visit Britain, the Catalan Tourist Board, London Designer Outlet, Go West, Pilatus-Bahnen and Absolute Asia Travel.
Hannah has authored reports and whitepapers on tourism, and has spoken on numerous occasions at prestigious travel conferences such as ITB Asia. Her reports have been cited in publications such as Forbes Middle East, Web in Travel and Travel Weekly Asia. She is also the co-host of podcast The South East Asia Travel Show.
OUR REGIONAL PARTNERS
AFRICA
OGAGA UDJO – ZA LOGICS
Ogaga has joined MIDAS Aviation as a Regional Partner – Africa, helping to deliver value for clients in Africa particularly trough the partnership with AviaDev Africa.
Mr. Udjo is an experienced professional in the commercial aviation sector, and currently the Managing Director of ZA Logics – a bespoke African aviation advisory.
In his corporate airline career he has worked for Comair Limited, South African Airways and Qatar Airways (based in Doha). His roles have formed part of the research, commercial and/strategy functions of all airlines. In his last capacity in the corporate sector, he developed and headed the Network Planning, Scheduling & Alliances Department of Comair Limited - South Africa's only Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed airline business. Prior to that, he was involved in strategic planning and implementation for the core airline business in the Domestic, Rest of Africa and Intercontinental markets for South African Airways.
You can listen to the podcast he recorded with AviaDev Africa on “How African airlines can stop bleeding” on 5thFebruary 2020 here.
OUR PARTNERSHIPS
ABOUT AVIADEV
MIDAS Aviation have been working with aviation events business AviaDev since 2018. We've supported AviaDev Europe and AviaDev Africa by providing in-depth analytical reports in advance of their events and being on-site to help chair panels and make presentations. In 2019 we created AviaDev Consult together, providing a platform for air service development consultancy.
ABOUT IAR
We've been working with Prof. Zheng Lei since 2016 when he was brought into the University of Surrey to create a Masters degree programme in Air Transport Management. Prof Lei leads the Institute for Aviation Research, an independent think tank.
Together we have created the China-Europe Aviation Dialogue events, a unique annual event which brings key decision-makers from European and Chinese airlines and airports together to learn, network and grasp the opportunities from engaging with the rapidly growing aviation market that is China.
In 2020, this format will be extended with the inaugural IAR China-Japan Aviation Summit.
ABOUT OAG
MIDAS Aviation has worked with OAG, a leading provider of travel data and insight for many years. All our partners are expert users of its analytical platform OAG Analyser which provides global schedule and traffic analysis. We continue to support OAG by providing content and insights which leverage the value of their data.
OUR EVENTS
MARCH 2023
CAPA Airline Leaders Summit,
Budapest, Hungary,
16-17 March 2023
John and Deirdre joined airline leaders at this CAPA event in March. Read John's observations here.
Client Meetings
The team were able to catch up with clients and prospective clients in Japan.
DECEMBER 2022
Client Meetings
Deirdre travelled to Kilimanjaro with a client.
JUNE 2022
AviaDev Africa – Cape Town,
29 June – 1 July 2022
John will be running a training session on route development on the morning of Wednesday 29th June. Contact AviaDev Africa to find out more at jon.howell@thebench.com.
Find out more here.
MAY 2022
ROUTES Europe 2022 – Bergen,
18-20 May 2022
Mark will be attending Routes Europe. Do make contact with Mark if you’d like to meet up with him there. Mark@midasaviation.com
MARCH 2022
ISHKA Investing in Aviation – 30 March 2022
The MIDAS team recently attended the ISHKA Investing in Aviation: Europe event held in London at the end of March 2022, and where MIDAS Aviation Partner John Grant was a speaker. He was addressing the subject of how global airline capacity hold up during Delta and Omicron waves and whether there is a case for optimism over the 2022 summer season.
The session can be downloaded here.