Overview
Summary and overview of the aviation, airline and airport consultancy services that United States Global Partners (USGP) in conjunction with our team of partners and experts can provide. USGP in conjunction with these partners brings decades of unmatched experience in complete airline and airport services. This body of experience is drawn from our team of top executives from among the largest airlines and airports in the world including among others professionals who have served in various senior executive positions at leading international airports as well as Engineering and Maintenance operations, Airline/Flight Operations, Finance and Operations, Sales and Marketing, Route Development and Strategy with major US and International carriers. Additionally, these established relationships include arrangements with well known specialty aviation consulting firms as well as major accounting firms—and are well positioned to handle any size project. For example, our route and regulatory affairs partners recently won China route awards for American Airlines. Aircraft evaluation and acquisition are handled by partners who were previously with Airbus and McDonnell-Douglas (now Boeing). Team partners have worked successfully with several major carriers, both domestically and internationally, and several Fortune 100 aviation related companies providing a variety of aviation and transportation related services.
The following areas are just a few of the value added services in the airline industry that can be provided:
Route Planning and Scheduling
In conjunction with our partners, USGP can conduct a complete evaluation of the airlines current route structure and aircraft utilization for both passenger and cargo operations. We can evaluate current route profitability to determine whether aircraft additions should be added for existing routes versus new routes. We can identify market growth opportunities and new routes and determine requirements for added aircraft (lease or purchase), additional crews, new station deployment, ground personnel and ground equipment requirements necessitated by these fleet additions. It has much depth in evaluating aircraft scheduling enhancements to achieve higher utilization and lower cost per seat mile. Another specialty is the development of recommendations regarding management processes for aircraft scheduling decisions.
Airline Operations (Flight, Maintenance, In-Flight)
The team can evaluate the Airlines operational and flight standards for all aspects of the Airlines operation in the context of required international standards. This portion of the team would be headed by a retired Senior 777 Captain who has flown all over Europe and was a training and flight standards expert. This will be an important aspect of identifying deficiencies in the current operating protocols and standards necessary to maintain international flight certification. This evaluation will take into account maintenance and engineering policies such as; engineering standards, technical records requirements, maintenance schedules, quality assurance procedures, personnel training policies and regimen, spare parts inventory and management and other aspects of the fleet management protocols. With respect to flight activities such things as; crew scheduling and utilization, flight planning procedures, security measures, flight publications and manuals, in-flight procedures and crew training, manpower requirements, as well as, fuel conservation measures will be evaluated and recommendations made to address identified deficiencies. Note that this will be a collaborative process. For example the flight department will play an integral role early in the aircraft acquisition process and provide cost and benefits analyses. Another example would be new route selection where the flight department will provide cost and performance data prior to commitment.
Marketing and Sales
In this area the team will evaluate the airlines marketing and sales programs for both passenger and cargo. This aspect of the effort will focus on increasing effectiveness and competitiveness of the airlines M&S efforts with the goal of increasing direct sales, brand identity and internet penetration. The M&S effort will evaluate such things as: optimum distribution channels, current marketing and advertising strategies, competition strength and weaknesses, potential partnerships and alliances, pricing strategies, reservations, ticketing and check-in handling, off-peak strategies, revenue opportunities related to policy, sales structure, frequent flyer programs and cargo loyalty programs, new sources of business and cost savings related to efficiency as well as other key areas of the airlines current M&S efforts. This ideally would be preceded by a top down consumer research study and major discussions with carrier management to determine whether the focus should be on inbound vs. outbound travelers, business versus pleasure, sightseeing versus visiting friends and relatives.
Organizational Structure
This consulting area will evaluate the airlines current organization with a focus on increasing productivity and cost reductions. The team will evaluate the functional relationships of the various groups in the organization, accountability, benefits, company structure, job descriptions, new employee orientations, performance evaluation, staffing levels, training, salary scales relative to the industry, retention measures and other areas of overall organizational performance, including implementation of a real-time management by objective and measurement program
Technology Utilization
In this area the team will evaluate the airlines use and deployment of information technology systems. The focus will be to streamline information technology to maximize efficiency and cost. In this area the team would evaluate; budget control systems, cargo management systems, crew tracking, E-ticketing, maintenance inventory management, management data reporting, reservation system, revenue accounting, frequent flyer program systems and the coordination between the various systems. Financial management and cash control systems will be audited and recommendations for change made.
Summary
New or expanding airlines are on the verge of an ambitious, complex undertaking. Only a cadre of seasoned aviation professionals who have worked for airlines and airports for many years can properly perform this task. The USGP team presented here, and its extensive network of partnerships can provide exception breadth and depth of capabilities while remaining focused on the long term bottom line and committed to provide extraordinary value.