Sir Roy McNulty seemingly has no interest in putting his feet up. The 70-year-old father of three has been the £90,000-a-year, three-day-a-week chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority since 2001.

He divides his week between regulating Britain’s crowded airspace and helping to deliver the 2012 London Olympic Games in his other role as deputy chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority.

This year, when he was acting chairman of the authority, Sir Roy admitted in an interview with BBC Radio 4 that the budget for the 2012 Olympics had not been thoroughly calculated when the bid was made. He said that “homework” was not done “deeply enough at the beginning”, leading to the review in which it more than tripled from £2.375 billion to an overall £9.3 billion.

Sir Roy was overlooked for the permanent position in May when John Armitt, chief executive of Network Rail, was drafted in by Tessa Jowell, the Olympics Minister. Sir Roy agreed to stay on as deputy.

Spearheading large projects is what he does best. He built supertankers for Harland & Wolff and oversaw the Swanwick air traffic control system. He has almost three decades’ experience in the aviation industry and previous posts include chairman of National Air Traffic Services and chief executive and then chairman of Belfast-based aerospace company Shorts Brothers. He has also been the president of the Society of British Aerospace Companies and chairman of the Department of Trade and Industry Aviation Committee.

Educated at Portora Royal School in Northern Ireland, he received a knighthood in 1998 for services to economic development in the country. In October, the Rev Ian Paisley, Northern Ireland’s First Minister, appointed him as chair of Ilex, the urban regeneration company for the Derry City Council area. He enjoys walking, golf and reading.