Deregulation, greater mobility, increased price consciousness, and new IT developments are just some of the challenges confronting the air and travel industry. We work with clients to discover the answers that matter to them in two main areas:
Air transportation
With the advance of low-cost carriers and online ticketing, the price and service expectations of air travelers have changed drastically. While the major airlines can expand their global networks, they must control their costs, make their pricing more transparent, and improve their service. The opportunity to capture additional value in operations remains substantial.
The successful implementation of lean management principles in maintenance, ground, and other service areas can result in sustainable productivity gains for many airlines. For example, turnaround times can be shortened by up to 25 percent. Airlines that opt for a hub-and-spoke system can adjust flight plans and thereby improve flight capacity utilization and reliability.
As international alliances and partnerships increase, there comes a need to reconfigure networks and adjust the fleet mix. Our practice is skilled in addressing these issues in both the air passenger and air freight industries. We take innovative approaches to customer segmentation as well as pricing, and we leverage sophisticated tools for network modeling. Finally, we apply our detailed knowledge of lean process improvement and business strategy alignment.
Travel and tourism
The tourism industry is in the midst of a vast transformation. As with many sectors, several factors are in play. Advances in technology are creating new opportunities for communication and sales. Customers are picking up on these quickly, thereby generating new demand patterns. At the same time, deregulation is paving the way for new competition.
These factors are forcing the tourism companies—from travel agencies to tour operators, hotels, and airlines—to review their business models. Flexibility and a clearly differentiated offering are keys to success. Additional potential lies in fully harnessing the power of the internet.
Our deep expertise enables us to assist tourism clients in developing programs for a new future. We use innovative approaches to tailor offers precisely to customer requirements and to align process flows and organization structures with new strategies. We also support regional projects aimed at developing tourism. Our work spans the globe and touches on topics such as planning and investing in infrastructure, product design, and branding.