After spending his early years in rural WA, from 1963 a thirteen year old Rod Eddington attended Christ Grammar School in Perth. He then studied engineering at the University of Western Australia and graduated with First Class Honours in 1972. He continued his studies at UWA and completed a Masters of Engineering. In 1974 Rod Eddington was the Rhodes Scholar from WA. He completed his DPhil in the Dept of Engineering Science at Oxford University. He played eight first class matches for Oxford in 1975 and 1976.He was President of the Vincent’s Club in 1977. He joined the Swire Group in 1979, working for its subsidiary Cathay Pacific, before being appointed Managing Director in 1992.

After joining News Limited, he was appointed Chairman of Ansett Australia in January 1997. He was also appointed Deputy Chairman of News Limited in September 1998. News Corp, News Ltd’s parent company, had taken control of Ansett from TNT in 1979. Rod Eddington was promoted to the News Corp Board in September 1999. In a timely transaction Ansett was sold in 2000 to Air New Zealand. Prior to its sale Ansett was performing well. In 2000 Rod Eddington replaced Bob Ayling as CEO of British Airways. He successfully steered BA through the very difficult aftermath of the 11 September 2001 terror attacks.