wrote this paper while with BOAC/British Airways, where he worked until 1977. He then undertook a variety of management roles in banking and financial services, predominantly with Midland Bank and HSBC, retiring in 2002. He is currently a Visiting Senior Research Fellow with the Open University Business School, where he works on the development and delivery of their MBA programme, and on the provision of programmes to their corporate customers

Correspondence: Ken Littlewood, 1 Barkhart Gardens, Wokingham, Berks RG40 1ET, UK Tel: +44 (0)1189 784964; Email: kenlittlewood@btinternet.com

Abstract

This paper won the 2004 Revenue Management and Pricing Section Historical Prize awarded by INFORMS. Written in 1972, it describes the early work on applying mathematical models to the development of revenue management in the airline industry. It describes methods of passenger forecasting and revenue control — and introduces the idea of maximising the revenue received on a particular flight, rather than maximising the number of passengers carried. It is considered a seminal work in the field of revenue management, and establishes the foundations for many of the yield control models which have been subsequently developed. It was presented at the 12th AGIFORS Symposium in October 1972.