Airlines

T&L applies industrial engineering, operational research and programme management skills to assist airline and ground handling clients. Benefits include increased passenger, baggage and cargo flow, improved customer service and punctuality performance, increased productivity and reduced operating costs.

Traffic figures and load factors may be on the increase but efficiency remains high on the airline agenda. High fuel costs, economic uncertainty and industry competition continue to affect airline financial performance. Carriers, from legacy to low-cost, are seeking ways to reduce their operating costs, whilst growing their customer base and offering an improved, broader range of routes, products, services and technologies.

T&L helps airline and ground handling clients to achieve sustainable operations performance and service quality. Below is an overview of how we apply our core service offering to meet the needs of airline and ground handling clients.

Terminal Planning & Facility Design

Traffic forecasting and terminal facility capacity planning
Phased terminal development plans
Facility layouts, operations design and equipment requirements

Departure & Arrival Process Design

End-to-end passenger, baggage & goods flow design and optimisation
Wayfinding and signage strategies

Airline Operations Planning & Improvement

Demand-driven capacity planning, resource and equipment planning, and facilities allocation; including modelling skills and tools for demand-based allocation
Production area layout planning, design & facilities requirements
End-to-end process design and optimisation, and throughput increase
Queue structure design & queue management strategies
Baggage and equipment logistics and storage strategies
Operations contingency planning
Identification of reasons for excess baggage revenue loss and design of processes and strategies to increase revenue
Aircraft ‘A’-check planning, process improvement and strategies to reduce operating costs and achieve early aircraft return following checks
Cabin crew activity planning and efficiencies

Programme Management

Terminal operations improvement programmes
New terminal facility operations readiness and testing
New facility commissioning and business migration

Delivering Results: Airline and Ground Handling Operations Reference Projects

Britannia Airways	Punctuality Performance Improvement We demonstrated that a 60 minute turnround is achievable at no additional cost to Britannia Airways, provided that an organised and integrated plan is followed. We identified inefficiencies and made a series of recommendations to improve turnround performance, These were implemented by the airline and contributed to substantially improving punctuality and asset utilisation. More >>
British Airways	Process Development British Airways retained T&L to help develop a Process Engineering capability at its Heathrow hub operation. The T&L team worked with the BA Head of Process Engineering to develop a plan to re-engineer the airline’s ground handling processes at Heathrow Airport in readiness for the planned move to Terminal 5. Subsequently, the consultants worked with the new BA process engineering team, applying ‘lean’ manufacturing methodologies to assess the different operating processes in three existing terminals and redevelop processes for T5. More >>
Swissport	Ground Handling Assessment T&L assessed the accuracy of the pro-forma cost analysis system which is used to determine additional business costs and therefore a bid price for new business. More >>

Inspiring Airlines: Expertise and Insights

Delivering results worldwide:
an overview of our international projects for airlines and ground handling organisations. More >