I'm in the Air Force and am interested in joining the business side of the airlines instead of flying. It's tough finding information on the corporate side apart from typical boilerplate news articles. I'm interested in the Asian market particularly. Can anyone on here speak to this or point me in the right direction?

like any other company, they hire mba / finance types for management jobs. your AF experience wouldn't hurt, but they'd be more interested in your non-flying tours than in your flying experience. Planning, logistics, that sort of thing. A relevant graduate or undergrad degree would help too.

If they just need a manager with pilot experience.... well they have thousands of line pilots who might rather be home every night, and are intimately familiar with 121. So you'll have to bring more to the table than a good stick.

US companies generally appreciate military officer experience but that may not be the case in Asia. I can't answer than one.

I finished my MBA recently and it isn't the standard Toro/TUI/Trident check the box type. I'm trying to do learn more about the industry and Asian carriers in particular as I may want to work for a service provider as opposed to simply applying for a middle management job at the airline. Does 121 stuff apply to international carriers as well? What part of ICAO regs do I need to get smart on?

I recommend going to a job fair (even for Pilots) and meet company reps, and hand them your resume even if non-flying position is requested. ICAO regs may or may not be important to a carrier who may hire you. Also, subscribe to Aviation Week and Air Transport World and get spooled up on issues facing the industry.

Service providers off the top of my head would be Boeing, GE Capital (finance the jets), even the banks themselves. As far as Asian carriers, don't have any advice on that. If I was an MBA looking for a job with an Asian carrier, I would probably go to the closest airport where that carrier(s) serves (LAX?) and physically tackle the station chief and ask him for HR emails, POCs, etc etc.

121 does not apply to non-US airlines, except certain flight operating rules which apply when they fly here. It's 14 CFR 121, ie united states code. Pretty much all other countries have similar rules, so it wouldn't hurt to study them.

Both 121 and ICAO cover a lot of ground. A manager should probably be looking not just at the pilot stuff, but air carrier certification, training, safety, etc.

Thanks for the words. I guess I need to hit the pavement next and read a bunch of back issues of the magazines you recommended. Again, thanks for the advice.

Subscribe to Aviation Week if you don't already.