MEET THE PEOPLE
The who’s who of RM
Matthew Rutherford
Director, Yield Management & Market Planning
P&O Cruises & Cunard, Carnival Australia
ARMA Industry Advisory Panel member
M
atthew’s career has covered many
areas from decision support, merger
and acquisitions, sales, operations,
yield, and even running factories overseas.
However, the common thread and his
career competitive advantage is Revenue
Management. Matthew has worked for
Qantas, British Airways, Coca Cola Amatil,
and currently P&O Cruises & Cunard,
Carnival Australia.
With each organisation he was able to
leverage his core competency in revenue
management. “It is such an undervalued
skill outside the travel industry and with
costs always increasing finding ways to
grow margins through better revenue management is an
opportunity for many companies.”
His current role is the Director for Yield Management
and Market Planning for P&O responsible for revenue and
network strategy. “It’s a challenging role that took me back
to my roots as a Yield analyst at Qantas in 1996”. Matthew
joined Qantas straight from Macquarie University after
completing an Economics degree. “It was an exciting time.
Qantas had just merged with Australian airlines and the two
airline systems and cultures were being merged.” Matthew
developed his passion for revenue management through his
first flights managing the Brisbane/Mackay route.
“Every day I would come in and check how I was doing.
It was exciting each week to drive full fare bookings on
the peak Thursday and Friday night services and try and
beat the previous week.” The skills learnt included demand
management, market economics, competition strategy, and
delivering a number (revenue goal) which he would carry
throughout his career.
After 8 years with Qantas and then British Airways
Matt