Aviation Forum

Trudie is a subject matter expert with over 20 years of expertise in managing environmental, social, and governance issues within the travel industry. During her 12-year tenure at British Airways, she played a pivotal role in shaping the airline’s environmental strategy by spearheading initiatives to integrate sustainability into its operations; developing their responsible flying program.

Her impact extended beyond BA when she was seconded to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, where she established the UK Sustainable Tourism Initiative, uniting stakeholders from the travel industry, government, and NGO community to address sustainable tourism. This initiative later evolved into The Travel Foundation, a leading charity and specialist advisory body.

After her time at BA, Trudie transitioned to ABTA, initially as a sustainability consultant, and later took on the challenge of transforming ABTA's charity into what it is today, ABTA Lifeline. She currently balances her charity work with an advisory role to ABTA on sustainable aviation and accessibility issues.

In recognition of her significant and lasting contributions to the travel sector, Trudie was presented with the TTG Travel Legend Award in 2022.

Richard is a litigator specialising in complex, international legal disputes in the aviation sector. Examples include aircraft and engine finance and repossession, lease and charter, maintenance, regulatory investigations, insurance claims and fraud. He has over 20 years of experience of acting for a range of major aviation market clients, including banks, lessors, airlines, parts companies, tour operators and air charter brokers.

Richard served as Chairman of BACA – The Air Charter Association (2016-2019), is a Fellow of the RAeS and a member of ISTAT, ERA and the Aviation Club.

Richard is integrated into the wider aviation finance team, which makes him uniquely placed in the market to provide specialist aviation finance advice on contentious situations. 

Lara is an aviation industry professional with 20 years experience working in consulting and industry association roles. An experienced leader and passionate advocate for the air transport sector she has worked in both the airport and airline business, with excellent understanding of their needs and the regulatory landscape. Currently IATA’s Area Manager for the UK and Ireland, a role that encompasses the operational, strategic and policy interests of IATA's 320+ airline members, as well as the commercial relationships that underpin the travel sectors success.

Prior to this role Lara led IATA’s work on airport slot activities across the organisation for 12 years, responsible for designing the strategy and priorities to support schedule planning at capacity constrained airports. Previous work as an airport planning consultant provided international experience, assisting in the design of future layouts and terminal areas as well as due diligence for airport privatisation projects.

Dan is a Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv) with an interest in sustainability, particularly with regard to climate change. He has built in-depth knowledge of the technical and legal requirements of the travel and transport sector, specialising in aviation, especially with regard to carbon mitigation work programs and corporate social responsibility reporting.
His previous experience of working in sustainability at two UK airlines (Thomas Cook and Jet2.com), regulating aviation emissions in the EU ETS and contributing to writing the monitoring, reporting and verification scheme for CORSIA at the Environment Agency, alongside local authority pollution control regulation experience focussed on noise and air quality, has given Dan a broad knowledge base in many areas of environmental protection and sustainability.
 

Dan is a Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv) with an interest in sustainability, particularly with regard to climate change. He has built in-depth knowledge of the technical and legal requirements of the travel and transport sector, specialising in aviation, especially with regard to carbon mitigation work programs and corporate social responsibility reporting.
His previous experience of working in sustainability at two UK airlines (Thomas Cook and Jet2.com), regulating aviation emissions in the EU ETS and contributing to writing the monitoring, reporting and verification scheme for CORSIA at the Environment Agency, alongside local authority pollution control regulation experience focussed on noise and air quality, has given Dan a broad knowledge base in many areas of environmental protection and sustainability.
 

Christopher has been Policy Director of AOA since 2020.  He has worked on policy issues across the interests of the UK airport sector, including carbon, noise, accessibility, resilience and security, as well as the Covid shutdown and recovery from it. Previously he was Head of UK Policy at the Freight Transport Association where he led on policy issues across road, rail, sea and air freight.  Prior to FTA, he worked for almost 10 years in public affairs for a consultancy.  He started his career as a researcher in the House of Commons.

Richard is a litigator specialising in complex, international legal disputes in the aviation sector. Examples include aircraft and engine finance and repossession, lease and charter, maintenance, regulatory investigations, insurance claims and fraud. He has over 20 years of experience of acting for a range of major aviation market clients, including banks, lessors, airlines, parts companies, tour operators and air charter brokers.

Richard served as Chairman of BACA – The Air Charter Association (2016-2019), is a Fellow of the RAeS and a member of ISTAT, ERA and the Aviation Club.

Richard is integrated into the wider aviation finance team, which makes him uniquely placed in the market to provide specialist aviation finance advice on contentious situations.
 

Simon McNamara is IATA’s Area Manager for the United Kingdom & Ireland leading IATA’s activities in the region and supporting the global IATA team in its work to represent its airline membership. He engages with the UK and Irish Governments, advocating IATA’s positions and policies in the area in all aspects of aviation government regulation.  

Previous to his current role he was Director of Communications at Flybe, a UK regional airline, responsible for their government affairs, corporate communications, internal communications and crisis communications. Prior to Flybe, he was Director General of the European Regions Airline Association, a European trade body representing regional carriers, advocating in the EU.

Simon is a graduate of City University, London, in Aeronautical Engineering (1994) and holds an MSc from Cranfield University in Air Transport Management (1995). 
 

Lara is an aviation industry professional with 20 years experience working in consulting and industry association roles. An experienced leader and passionate advocate for the air transport sector she has worked in both the airport and airline business, with excellent understanding of their needs and the regulatory landscape. Currently IATA’s Area Manager for the UK and Ireland, a role that encompasses the operational, strategic and policy interests of IATA's 320+ airline members, as well as the commercial relationships that underpin the travel sectors success.

Prior to this role Lara led IATA’s work on airport slot activities across the organisation for 12 years, responsible for designing the strategy and priorities to support schedule planning at capacity constrained airports. Previous work as an airport planning consultant provided international experience, assisting in the design of future layouts and terminal areas as well as due diligence for airport privatisation projects.

Thom is Senior Public Affairs Manager UK at easyJet, where he leads the airline’s public affairs strategy across Westminster and the devolved administrations, driving political engagement on key aviation policy issues such as sustainability, airspace reform and consumer rights. Prior to joining easyJet in 2022, Thom spent nearly five years at ADS, the trade association for the UK’s aerospace, defence and security sectors, where he rose through a series of senior public affairs roles, shaping policy and stakeholder engagement in highly regulated industries for some of the UK's largest manufacturers. Earlier in his career, Thom worked in Parliament for a Member of the Labour Shadow Cabinet, alongside public affairs roles in higher education and social care sectors.