Mike Wittman is an expert in revenue management science and research at Amadeus, based in Copenhagen, Denmark. After receiving an undergraduate degree in math and economics from American University, Mike started his graduate career at MIT and worked on projects related to air service for small communities. After a year working as an air service development consultant, he transitioned back to his economic roots and completed a PhD in the RM area under the guidance of Peter Belobaba, with a focus on dynamic pricing.
Mike enjoys working in RM because it’s “about how people make choices between itineraries, prices, and offers. There is an unlimited amount of future work that can be done, and RM is a field that will continue to evolve in terms of developing models of how people make decisions.” Mike enjoys working for Amadeus because of the international nature of the job and the chance to interact with colleagues from around the globe. He also likes learning about the business challenges faced by international airline customers in Europe, Asia, and the Americas.
Mike envisions a future in which we expand the view of RM to include more than just the flight price, as part of the move towards offer optimization. He also sees opportunities to “correct some of the biases in our models that we’ve learned to live with, such as omitting competition from our demand forecasting models” and exploring how flight schedules influence consumer choice between itineraries.
For students interested in pursuing a career in RM, Mike recommends getting as much industry experience as they can and learning how to speak the language of airlines as “understanding the business problem inside and out will trump any technical skills you may have… if people see your passion for aviation, they will recognize you as the expert.”
Interested in learning more about Mike? Check out his LinkedIn page.