Peter Hind | Managing Director
Peter graduated from the University of London in 1992 with a degree in Modern History and Economics, and joined British Midland Airways (bmi) the following year. He spent nine years at the carrier, holding a number of key positions in the Distribution, Industry Affairs, Pricing, Alliances and Network Planning departments and sat on several IATA working groups.
During his time in strategy and network planning, he managed the codeshare partner portfolio, and was responsible for implementing new codeshare agreements with a number of major airlines. He was responsible for new route analysis, recommending network development opportunities for the airline, and worked on the passenger forecasts for the airline’s re-entry into long haul markets.
He joined RDC Aviation in 2001 as Senior Consultant and was appointed Managing Director in 2007 to steer the company through its transformation from traditional consultancy to a provider of data and information services to the international aviation industry. This has included the development of the company’s aviation environmental strategy which includes ETS advisory work, emissions analysis and data reporting.
In August 2009 RDC became the first external company to have an emissions model achieve pre-compliance with the UK Government’s Quality Assurance Scheme for Carbon Offsetting, and it now provides environmental data and analysis to a number of industry participants and analysts.
Peter is married with three children and is a keen sportsman.
Richard Leigh | Product Director
After graduating in 1986 from City University in London with a degree in Aeronautical Engineering, Richard spent two years at British Aerospace as an aircraft performance engineer, mainly on the ATP.
He then chose to go back to school, spending a year at the Cranfield Institute from where he graduated in 1989 with a Masters in Air Transport Management. From there, he joined Airbus Industrie in Toulouse, where he spent six happy years marketing Airbus aircraft across Europe, Africa and Asia. He learnt a great deal about airline and aircraft economics and route and network forecasting, and developed and delivered key senior management and Board level presentations to prospective airline customers. His final position with the company was as Marketing Director on the A3XX (later the A380) programme.
He returned to the UK as Business Development Manager for Manchester Airport, responsible for the development of the long-haul network. This role involved building and maintaining key relationships with airline customers, and developing and presenting business cases to attract new services. On leaving the airport, he remained in Manchester for his first taste of consultancy with ASM.
Making the most of his aircraft, airport and consultancy experience, he was one of the founder directors of RDC in 1999. The early years were spent developing our consultancy and software products, growing the company into a well-respected international business. His role with the company is now as Product Director, with responsibility for bringing our PC-based products online and also developing new products to add to the portfolio.
He is married with three young children, and outside of work enjoys playing badminton, watching sport, family holidays and playing with the kids.
Iain Smith | Director - Commercial & Product Support
Iain has worked in aviation since 2000 after graduating from University in Glasgow and is RDC Aviation’s Commercial Director. His initial airline experience was gained at bmi (British Midland International) where he initially worked within the Scottish Corporate Sales Department before being promoted to the position of Performance Analyst at the company’s head office in England. At bmi he was responsible for monitoring the passenger, yield and profitability performance of new routes, ongoing performance of the airline against key competitors and cost and revenue budgeting.
In 2002 he left bmi to join RDC Aviation as a Consultant responsible for delivering client projects in the areas of new route development, network expansion strategy and long term passenger forecasting. He progressed to Senior Consultant then moved from the consulting department to focus on the company’s strategy to develop as a global software and online supplier of aviation systems and data. He initially built a loyal and widespread client base for route pro, the company’s route economics and passenger forecasting software, and over the last few years he has developed a full time sales team with responsibility for promoting all of RDC Aviation’s online software systems.
He became Commercial Director in 2007 recently developing a number of strategically important relationships with established third party sales representatives and other data suppliers. This has allowed the company to increase penetration into different geographical areas and other markets. In 2012 Iain became Director - Commercial & Product Support to manage a dedicated support team and offer invaluable advice to clients as they begin using our products.
He was recently married and enjoys playing and watching football, listening to live music, travelling and spending time with his family and friends in his homeland of Scotland.