Rod Eddington

Coming from a country area where there were no high schools, Eddington went to Perth in 1963 to attend Christ Church Grammar School. He studied engineering at the University of Western Australia and graduated with first class honours in 1972. He continued his studies at UWA and completed the degree of Master of Engineering. In 1974, Eddington was the Rhodes Scholar from Western Australia. He completed his DPhil in the Department of Engineering Science at the University of Oxford and played eight first-class cricket matches for Oxford University Cricket Club in 1975 and 1976. He was President of Vincent's Club in 1977.

Eddington joined Swire in 1979, working for its subsidiary Cathay Pacific, before being appointed managing director in 1992. Continuing his association with the airline industry; News Limited, subsidiary of News Corporation, appointed Eddington chairman of Ansett Australia in January 1997, four years before the airline failed. News Corp had taken control of the airline with TNT in 1979. Eddington was appointed Deputy Chairman of News Limited in September 1998. He was further promoted to the News Corporation board in September 1999.

British Airways CEO

Eddington replaced Bob Ayling as British Airways Chief Executive Officer on 2 May 2000. He reversed many of the policies of his predecessor in early 2001, such as the unpopular ethnic-art tailfins. He steered British Airways in the aftermath of the 11 September 2001 attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C.

In 2003, he retired Concorde, a move viewed as controversial. Eddington stepped down as chief executive officer of British Airways on 30 September 2005, after more than five years in the position. He then returned to Australia to take up a position as the head of the Victorian Major Events Association, succeeding Steve Vizard. Eddington was replaced by Willie Walsh in October 2005 after he had followed a six-month shadow position.