When did you decide you wanted to be a pilot?

I first wanted to be a pilot in high school. I was 18 years old and a friend in Air Cadets wanted to join the air force. It is the classic story of the guy who always wanted to fly failing, when I had just gone along with him to take the test and passed.

Pilots presumably have plenty of opportunity for free air travel in their vacation time. How many pleasure trips do you take a year and what are your favourite destinations? What are some remote and/or unusual places that you would recommend - and why?

I go on about five pleasure trips per year, mostly for golf holidays. I go to Jamaica two or three times a year and also to northern England or Scotland.

What, in your experience, is the easiest landing and best designed airport? Which airport do you least enjoy landing in and why?

The Asian terminals are all very good. I like Osaka especially - beautiful airport - moves traffic very efficiently. Hong Kong we pilots all like as well - such great design.

Which plane is your favourite, and why?

My favourite is the Lockheed 1011-500. It is a very powerful plane and has terrific flight controls. But you know my next favourite would be the Airbus A340-300, which we're flying on now.

What are your favourite places - restaurants/areas/entertainment - in the cities you visit frequently for work?

I fly to Frankfurt a lot, where I tend to go for walks along the Main. But whenever possible I like to stay just outide of town, in Meinz. It's a quaint town, lots of character.

If you could design your own airplane, what would you want to change?

I'd like it if they could go faster, maybe mach .86. The air quality is so important - but they're getting air changing well now, for the most part.

How do you see your job and the airline industry changing over the next five or ten years? What would you like to see happen?

I'm looking forward to us getting back to our core business - long haul wide body. And getting the business traveller back - it's happening, but not as much as I hope it will. For a number of reasons they've shifted to more teleconferencing in recent years.