In November 2020, William Swelbar formed The Swelbar-Zhong Consultancy - a commercial aviation economic analysis and research firm. The firm specializes in providing independent, third-party analysis assisting clients to understand how structural change(s) to the airline industry might impact their place in the system. 

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Swelbar is most often associated as being a Research Engineer in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s International Center for Air Transportation affiliated with the Global Airline Industry Program and Airline Industry Research Consortium. After nearly 20 years, the program became a COVID casualty in late 2022.

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He also served as a member of the Board of Directors of Hawaiian (Airlines) Holdings, Inc. for 18 years; in 2016 was appointed to U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Working Group on Improving Air Service to Small Communities; and in January 2021, Swelbar spent two years as an external advisor to McKinsey & Company, Inc’s. Transport, Logistics, and Infrastructure Practice.

In his consulting he has represented a wide range of stakeholders. He is widely quoted; author of TheSwelblog.com and his new project is a podcast premiering in June 2024: Grumpy Old Farts Musing Airlines, Airports, and Air Service Issues.

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Swelbar is also a much sought-after speaker and has provided expert witness testimony before various tribunals and before the United States Congress regarding the economics of commercial air transport. Swelbar is published in the Journal of Air Transport Management and is a contributing author in a second edition textbook released in 2015 titled: The Airline Industry published by Wiley Press.

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Swelbar holds a Bachelor of Science degree in economics with honors from Eastern Michigan University and an MBA with a concentration in finance from The George Washington University.