Adam Bockelie

Adam Bockelie is a senior manager of strategic planning at Air Canada. Adam has always been attracted to transportation because of the mix of quantities and qualitative skills that it brings together. “Transportation is also something that is very tangible and everyone can relate to,” he explains. “Everyone travels and has been on a plane.”

Adam started his career in aviation while working in Frontier in the corporate finance department and realized there were opportunities to bring more science and optimization into decision-making. He decided to pursue his PhD at MIT under the direction of Peter Belobaba so he could work on more challenging airline problems. “There is so much territory to cover when it comes to future problems in RM,” he says. “Once we tackle offer optimization, we can look at more detail into the fact that RM is not selling individual flights in isolation.” For example, individuals may start their travel search by considering multiple beach destinations, not just one. Adam also sees opportunities for building strong linkages to the airline planning process and using demand forecasts to support everything from schedule and fleet planning to in-flight catering.

Adam encourages students interested in pursuing careers in revenue management and airlines “to keep their eyes open and note that there are many types of roles and skill sets required to have an effective RM system in practice” noting that a range of skills in math, optimization, and business development all have a role to play in RM.

In his free time, Adam enjoys taking glass-blowing lessons.