Jennifer Coutts Clay is a consultant providing technical advice and marketing support to the aviation industry, with a particular focus on airline and aircraft corporate and brand identification programs.
Jennifer started her aviation career with British Airways in 1974, and earned broad experience in marketing and operational management assignments across the airline network. From 1979 to 1982, based in Los Angeles, Jennifer was Head of Operations and Sales for Western USA, the first woman to be appointed to such a position in British Airways. From 1982 to 1984, as Head of Scotland, she was responsible for Operations and Sales at the time when the airline was a launch customer for the Boeing B737 and B757 aircraft used on the U.K. shuttle routes. In 1984, Jennifer was appointed Controller of Corporate Identity, responsible for the implementation of the US$75 million ‘privatization program’ associated with the British Airways transition from government to investor ownership. The work covered all aspects of the visual identity of the airline including design programs for the exteriors and interiors of the Concorde and subsonic fleets.
Jennifer joined Pan American World Airways in 1986 as General Manager, Product Design & Development. In this capacity, she completed a three-year, $25 million fleet upgrade program redesigning all major aspects of the Pan Am passenger service product. At this time the airline was a launch customer for the Airbus A310 and ATR42, and Jennifer played a key role in the development of the design implementation strategy for the interiors of these aircraft types.
As Principal of J. Clay Consulting, Jennifer has worked with a broad range of companies, including short-haul and long-haul airlines, design firms and aviation suppliers. At United Express she worked on the introduction into commercial service of the Canadian Regional Jet, and at South African Airways she developed a three-class upgrade program for the Boeing B747 fleet. She was a certified consultant to the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey (#PA-23925), and has been a guest speaker on aviation design trends at a variety of industry conferences.
From 2000 to 2002, for the magazine Aircraft Interiors, Jennifer wrote a regular column based on her work experiences; she also served on the magazine’s Advisory Panel.
She is the author of JETLINER CABINS (ISBN: 0–470–85165–1; published in 2003). This wide-ranging work was described by Air Transport World (ATW) magazine (www.atwonline.com) as ‘The first and only comprehensive survey of commercial aircraft design from the ’70s to the new Millennium.’ The paperback edition (ISBN: 0-470-01933-6; published 2006) is fully updated and contains a supplement on next-generation jetliner cabins, including those of the Airbus A380 and the Boeing B787 Dreamliner. Jennifer also writes about aviation-related topics for other publications.
Born in Scotland and educated in Britain, France and the USA (she was a Fulbright Scholar at Cornell University), Jennifer is now an American citizen and resides with her husband in New York City. She is a cofounder of the Clay Sanskrit Library (www.claysanskritlibrary.org), a member of The Cornell Club (www.cornellclubnyc.com), The Institute of Directors (www.iod.com), The Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transportation (www.ciltna.com) and The Wings Club (Golden Eagle Status) (www.wingsclub.org).