Aviation & Airports

Full-service carriers around the world are at different stages in their defense against low-cost carriers. They also face growing fragmentation in the industry, with international all business class carriers at one end and the advent of air-taxi VLJs at the other. Across North America, Asia and Europe, they face the mounting threat from Middle Eastern carriers that are experiencing significant growth. In a high fixed cost business with perennial overcapacity, market pressures are likely to lead to further consolidation, particularly among US carriers. Airports, meanwhile, are increasingly being forced to face the commercial realties of their industry and aggressively grow their non-aeronautical revenues as well as explicitly align their capital investment programs to their client’s needs. This is at a time when airport retail operations face increasing competition from off-airport retailers and growing pressure on the duty-free industry.

L.E.K. works with the world’s leading airlines and airports to drive performance and increase value. Building on deep industry knowledge and experience, we help clients address challenges, leverage opportunities, and create value across their entire operations, ranging from loyalty programs, sales force effectiveness and new product introductions to optimizing flight operations and engineering and maintenance - not only to reduce costs but also to improve asset utilization. For example:

We are a leader in facilitating consolidation in the airline industry. 
We helped Qantas convince the Australian Government... more

We are at the forefront of helping airlines create new revenue models. 
We helped a major North American carrier develop a new revenue stream... more

We help airlines with the fundamental economic driver of the business - improving asset utilization.
We helped a leading Asian carrier fundamentally re-assess how it measured its performance in maintenance and engineering. We went on to develop very detailed and tactical plans to help the airline achieve this performance improvement. Our work resulted in profit improvement of $150m per annum.

We help airlines get greatest customer and financial leverage out of their loyalty programs.
Airline loyalty programs have become a financial windfall for most airlines through the generation of substantial third party revenues... more

We provide objective insight to help airlines and airports re-focus and optimize their assets to achieve exceptional performance.
When a major UK airline asked L.E.K. to help rethink the role of its global corporate sales force... more

We use exhaustive research and data-driven analysis to help our clients develop powerful growth strategies.
When a major international airport asked L.E.K. to design a category management plan... more

We help airport executives worldwide develop full-scale business transformation strategies.
When a national government asked L.E.K. to help ensure the successful privatization of its major airports, we developed a rigorous and defensible business plan that, once implemented, helped generate $750 million in additional value for the government.

To uncover and create new opportunities and assess and mitigate potential risks, clients turn to L.E.K. for assistance in addressing the full spectrum of aviation and airport-related specialties, including: 

• Global and regional airlines 
• Low-cost and full-service carriers 
• Express delivery operations 
• Postal organizations 
• Freight services 
• Integrated transport operations 
• Government ministries and agencies 
• Finance providers and advisors 
• Airport operators 
• ATM/CNS operators 
• Ground service operators including caterers
• Logistics, infrastructure, and maintenance