Sergey Shebelov is vice president and head of research at Sabre Corporation. Sergey started working in RM by chance after he finished his doctoral degree under Diego Klabajan and applied to United Airlines. As a strong programmer, his first project was building a RM simulation tool. Sergey enjoys working in RM because “RM systems have a critical impact on an airline’s revenue performance and it’s great to realize that the impact you are making goes directly to the company’s bottom line.” Sergey also enjoys working in RM because it is very dynamic. “Even in my 25 years working in this area, there have been four or five major ideas that have turned everything upside down and made the community start from scratch. There are always new problems to be solved.” As Sergey transitioned from working from an airline to a vendor, he has enjoyed getting exposure to multiple airlines and different industries. He also enjoys the focus he is able to maintain on new development.
Sergey is excited about a transition he sees RM making from being airline-centric to a customer-centric. “As we transition from traditional RM to offer management, there are many concepts, business processes and technological systems that will evolve.” He explains that instead of focusing on which itineraries to show customers, we’ll transition to which offers to show them. Similarly, instead of being focused solely on product availabilities, we’ll transition to dynamic and continuous pricing. And instead of relying on the perspective and data from a single airline, we’ll bring in a more holistic view of competitor offerings across multiple airlines.
For students interested in working in RM, Sergey recommends they spend time learning the business and understanding what the real objective and constraints are that airlines face. “Often times, I’ve seen that these constraints have a significant impact on what we can and cannot do. RM is not really about coming up with a better theoretical algorithm, but coming up with something that can be implemented.” Sergey also strongly recommends that students focus on improving their programming, OR, and data science skills. Also, he notes that while RM is often portrayed as a niche area, it’s applicable to a wide range of industries including retail companies such as Amazon and Walmart and that the skills and experience gained in working for an airline or RM group can lead to careers in many different industries.
Interested in learning more about Sergey? Check out his LinkedIn page. One interesting fact you won’t find about Sergey online though is that as a student back in Russia he was a true rocket scientist and studied fluid dynamics and rocket-propelled vehicles!