With over 35 years of aviation and consulting experience, David is a subject matter expert in multiple aspects of the airline, aerospace, and maintenance supply businesses. Based in London, he is a Partner with the Transportation and Services team, and also supports the growth of OW CAVOK, Oliver Wyman’s airline technical consulting business, in the European market.
Having grown up with a Father who was a pilot in Southern Africa and the Middle East, some of David’s earliest memories are sitting on his Father’s lap flying over the plains of Africa. “Fundamentality, aviation and airlines are my blood,” David notes.
I learned to fly at university, my first job out of university was selling airplanes, and then I did a business degree and I thought, why don’t I do consulting in the industry I love. I fell into it quite deliberately.
Prior to joining Oliver Wyman, David earned his MA in Engineering Science from Oxford University and an MBA from the Cranfield School of Management. He started his career with British Aerospace Commercial Aircraft Marketing in the 1980s, served as a Principal at both Mercer Management Consulting’s aviation practice as well as The Canaan Group, then went on to co-found and co-lead the aerospace boutique consultancy AeoStrategy and most recently, led the Aerospace and MRO practice at ICF.
During his consulting career, David has led assignments with leading aerospace manufacturers, service suppliers, and airlines in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and North America. He is a go-to expert in the aircraft maintenance and air transport manufacturing sectors, and airline technical operations, and a trusted advisor for private equity firms. With extensive experience working on strategy development, market analysis, transaction support, aircraft acquisitions/fleet planning, and restructuring, he’s known as someone who has their finger on the pulse of what’s going on in the industry.
To those entering the industry, David notes that building a network is key, and the mutuality of interest and general friendliness in the industry makes this relatively easy. “There is a need to partner, to collaborate, and to share knowledge in a complex industry,” he says. “First and foremost, to get out there, you need to be proactive in building your network and offer insight.”