The final decision on award recipients rest with a panel of respected and independent judges. The Judging is pencilled to take place at the SpencerStuart offices in London, chaired by the Airline Business Editor and facilitated by SpencerStuart.

Professor Rigas Doganis
As a highly respected author and consultant, Professor Doganis advises governments and airlines alike on strategic issues and air transport policy. Until 1997 he was head of the air transport department at the College of Aeronautics at Cranfield University and remains a visiting professor. He put theory into hard practice as the chairman of Olympic Airways in the mid-1990s. There he implemented a major restructuring programme which helped the Greek flag-carrier to its first and last profits. He was until early 2006 a non-executive director of South African Airways and currently sits on the boards of Hyderabad International Airport in India and on that of UK-based low-cost carrier easyJet. Doganis is author of several noted books on air transport including "Flying Off Course: The Economics of International Airlines", which has become a standard text. His most recent work "The Airline Business", was published last year.

Sir Rod Eddington
Sir Rod has returned to Australia after serving five years as chief executive of British Airways, where he successfully led the airline’s turn around during on of the industry’s most turbulent periods. His career in transport and aviation began in 1979 when he joined The Swire Group. Sir Rod worked with Cathay Pacific Airways in Hong Kong, Korea and Japan in a variety of roles, before being appointed deputy managing director and chief operating officer in 1990 and managing director and CEO in early 1992. In January 1997, News Corporation appointed him as executive chairman of Ansett Airlines, a position he held until 2000, when News Corporation sold its 50% interest in Ansett. In addition to his role with JPMorgan, Sir Rod maintains non-executive roles with News Corporation , Rio Tinto, John Swire & Sons Pty Ltd and CLP Holdings (China Light & Power) and is the chairman of Victorian Major events Company. Sir Rod reviewed the UK’s transport policy for the UK Government and this was delivered in December 2006. Sir Rod holds an Engineering Degree from the University of Western Australia and a Doctorate from Oxford University in the Department of Engineering Science. In 1974 he was the Western Australian Rhodes Scholar.

Peter Harbison
With 25 years of consulting experience, Harbison is managing director of the influential Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, which he founded in Sydney in 1990. The Centre provides a range of consultancy and information on this fast growing region, as well as industry conferences. His consulting background includes government policy advice, airport and airline privatisation studies and project management, airline business planning and start-up, through to supply chain analysis, policy and strategy studies. He had previously worked in the Australian Department of Aviation, as well as ICAO and IATA, for which he has chaired a regulatory reform group

Dr Julius Maldutis
Dr Julius Maldutis is one of the industry’s most highly regarded transportation economists and independent airline consultant, with broad experience in global aviation and aerospace. In 1998 Dr Maldutis joined CIBC World Markets as managing director and senior global transportation analyst in the Equity Research Department retiring in October 2001. Prior to 1998, Dr Maldutis was a managing director and head of global aviation research at Salomon Brothers Inc since 1972. Dr Maldutis was ranked the number one transport analyst in The 1997 Reuters Survey and has been selected by Euromoney’s Corporate Finance as one of the Ten Leading Global Equity Analysts of the Year by CFOs. He has published frequently on US and global aviation issues, and is a member of the New York Society of Security Analysts. Dr Maldutis is past President of the Wings Club and was a member of the Board of Governors. In addition, he was on the advisory boards of GATX Capital, BAE Systems and Swissair and has acted as an advisor to IBM Corporation for several years. Dr Maldutis received a BA degree from Brooklyn College and an MA and PhD in Economics from Columbia University.

Chris Tarry
Tarry who is one of the most highly rated aviation analysts in the London market established CTAIRA just over four years ago and now provides advice and consultancy services to an increasing range of clients in the aviation and aerospace sectors. Immediately before forming CTAIRA, he headed airline analysis at Commerzbank. Previously he headed European transport research at Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, during which time he led a number of major international share issues. He writes a monthly column in Airline Business and also lectures at the UK’s London School of Economics, Cambridge and Cranfield Universities, as well as holding a Senior Visiting Fellowship at the University of Surrey.

Chairman - Mark Pilling
Mark Pilling is the Editor of Airline Business magazine, the monthly strategic boardroom title reporting on the air transport industry. He has been a business journalist, specialising in aviation, for his entire career, beginning by reporting on the regional airline business in the late 1980s. He held the posts of deputy editor of Commuter World magazine and Interavia Aerospace Review prior to being appointed editor of Airports International in 1992. In 2000, he joined the editorial team at Airline Business, becoming its managing editor in January 2001. For two years from 2002 he also edited Airport World, the official magazine of the Airports Council International. In August 2005 he was appointed editor of Airline Business. He makes regular appearances on television and radio, such as CNN and the BBC World Service and has written for a host of titles on aviation matters, including Flight International, Flight Daily News, The Financial Times and The International Herald Tribune.

Facilitation - Michael Bell
Michael Bell co-leads the global aviation practice of Spencer Stuart, one of the world¹s top executive search firms. He previously spent six years with McKinsey, where he managed consulting relations with clients. The aviation practice is now a key area for Spencer Stuart, which specialises in senior-level executive search and board director appointments. Overall, the company has over 50 offices in 24 countries, conducting several thousand senior-level searches each year for clients from blue-chip corporations to small start-ups.

Facilitation - Thierry Lindenau
Based in Brussels, Thierry Lindenau is regional co-ordinator Europe, Middle East and Africa for Spencer Stuart¹s global aviation practice. Prior to joining Spencer Stuart, Lindenau was a senior consultant and later a partner at Kienbaum Executive Search in Munich.

Jeffrey Katz
Jeffrey Katz began his aviation career in 1980 at American Airlines, where he served for 17 years in a variety of finance, marketing, sales and customer service roles. He was elected a vice-president of the company and president of AMR’s SABRE computer reservations system division in 1993. In 1997 Katz left American to join Swissair as president and chief executive. He returned to the US in 2000 to become founding chairman and chief executive of Orbitz. Katz has also served on the board of directors at Northwest Airlines since early 2005.