Past projects
Key projects GH Aviation Consulting contributed to recently
(Some projects are anonymized for confidentiality purpose)
19-seater market analysis and forecast
Sustainable propulsion technologies
19-seater aircraft are generally certified under regulations known as FAR23 (Federal Aviation Regulations Part 23) or CS23 (Certification Specifications Part 23), which offer more flexibility than regulations for larger aircraft. This flexibility makes it easier to introduce new propulsion technologies on these smaller aircraft. Additionally, their size enables the implementation of innovations currently unfeasible for larger aircraft, such as electric engines, hydrogen fuel cells, battery-powered designs, and single-pilot operations.
The market for 19-seaters has experienced a significant decline since the 1990s but may see revitalization due to the lower costs and emissions associated with new generation technologies.
GH Aviation Consulting has conducted a comprehensive analysis of the 19-seater market and its future growth potential, assisting an Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) in adapting its development strategies.
Fuel Efficiency program improvement
Airline efficiency
GH Aviation Consulting specializes in optimizing airline operations to meet evolving standards and objectives. Currently, we are tasked with reviewing and enhancing a fuel efficiency program. This program is crucial as fuel efficiency remains the most cost-effective method to reduce carbon emissions, significantly contributing to the net zero goal set for 2050. Generally, airlines can achieve an annual fuel saving of 3 to 5% without altering their fleets or operational models.
Data analytics plays a pivotal role in evaluating airline operations. To harness its full potential, it is essential to have seasoned professionals who can design and implement targeted improvement measures. These measures are critical for achieving real, measurable savings in fuel consumption.
Panoramic Aircraft Network H2-elec aircraft
Concept of Operations (ConOps)
Developing a new hydrogen-powered aircraft designed to revolutionize the way tourists visit attractions necessitates the collaboration of a diverse range of stakeholders. This includes everything from airport energy suppliers to IT software companies, the latter of which will develop innovative augmented reality applications to enhance the scenic experience for passengers.
The Concept of Operations (ConOps) document represents a crucial milestone for the project. GH Aviation Consulting has provided this vital document to the project team, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of the operational requirements and stakeholder roles throughout the development process.
Start-up cargo airline in Middle-East
Strategy
GH Aviation Consulting supported a start-up cargo airline project in the Middle-East designing a strategic plan for a investment group aiming at entering progressively into the airline business.
This endeavor encompassed evaluating potential airlines for acquisition, exploring the establishment of an aircraft leasing venture, and identifying prospective partners within the air cargo sector.
Panoramic Aircraft Network H2-elec aircraft
Market evaluation
Electric aviation enables new business models.
What if when visiting a touristic site you were offered to take a scenic flight with an amazing view thanks to a transparent fuselage?
Panoramic Aircraft Network, based in Switzerland, will make this dream real thanks to a new hydrogen electric aircraft. GH Aviation Consulting performed an analytical market analysis of the existing scenic flight market and its projection over the next 10 years considering tourism statistics and airport infrastructure characteristics.
Air Iveria Start-up airline in Georgia
Commercial and Strategy
Georgia's tourism is booming while the country is badly connected to the rest of the world. This is the problem Air Iveria will solve by offering convenient flights between Georgia and Europe & Middle East.
GH Aviation Consulting helped the setup of a new Georgian carrier taking a C-level posiiton covering the following :
- Business planning and revisions (support to CFO)
- Market insights
- Investors presentations
- Commercial Organisation Definition
- Route opening: airport slot request, selection of local suppliers, traffic rights,...
- IT software selection: PSS, DCS, WBS
Airbus Beluga Transport Start-up airline
Air Operator Certificate
Getting an Air Operator Certificate for a new airline involves to coordinate many different activities.
GH Aviation Consulting took an active role in leading an AOC project for a new cargo airline:
- Supervision of Operations Manuals production and associated workshops
- Design of approval requests to authorities
- Resolution of various issues: subscription to ICAO/IATA, wet-lease contract design, evaluation of IT software,...
Battery-electric aircraft manufacturer
Cost benchmarking and optimization
Having the right understanding about the operating cost of a project aircraft allows to optimize its positioning against in-service & competition aircraft. This enables a more convincing marketing pitch to potential customers and investors.
GH Aviation Consulting helped a startup aircraft OEM to build their cost base.
Airport operator group
Zero emission aviation potential
The development of zero emission regional aviation can be a significant growth driver for regional airports in the coming years. However the potential is not the same for all airports and needs to be evaluated. GH Aviation Consulting helped an airport operator group to understand and identify the key drivers for the potential of zero emission regional air mobility development. This will allow the management team to decide about the right investments in terms of airport infrastructure, electric chargers, hydrogen dispensers or SAF supply chain to prepare the ground for the future.
Air Tahiti Domestic airline in the Pacific
Market insights - Sustainability strategy
Airlines have different options to put in place a sustainability strategy. Optimizing operations, using alternative fuels, moving to new propulsion technologies. This strategy has an impact on the airline business model, allowing to operate new routes, to benefit from different economic conditions (like subsidies).
GH Aviation Consulting provided market insights on sustainable aviation to Air Tahiti to define the preliminary steps of their sustainability strategy.
Investor in new technologies
Market insights - Sustainable aviation
New sustainable aviation technologies create a need to have innovative systems on board the aircraft that have to be developed. Several technologies are beeing studied, and their successes will also be linked to the demand for Urban Air Mobility or e-Regional Air Mobility.
GH Aviation Consulting provided guidance on the sustainable aviation market and associated technologies to an investor looking for opportunities in suppliers of aircraft systems.
Caribbean airport
Aircraft operating costs benchmark
How to reduce ticket fares for passengers while favouring sustainable solutions? Airports, through their passenger service taxes or landing charges, can have an influence on the operators serving their destinations. GH Aviation Consulting helped an airport in the Caribbean region to have a better view of the current and future aircraft operating costs on a strategic route to define its short and mid term strategy for taxes.
Aura Aero Hybrid fuel-electric aircraft
Marketing deck and customer briefings
Aura Aero is a startup manufacturer developing a serial hybrid aircraft named ERA (Electric Regional Aircraft). ERA is based on electric engines powered by batteries and fuel turbogenerators.
GH Aviation Consulting produced key deliverables to promote the ERA aircraft worldwide.
New aircraft OEM Hybrid fuel-electric retrofit
Product marketing
GH Aviation Consulting helped a start-up manufacturer of low emission retrofit solutions to identify the operators market segments to target in priority and to refine their marketing deck argumentation accordingly. Operating cost models were also developed to have a comprehensive product positioning against equivalent in-service aircraft.
H2-Electric engine supplier
Future passenger demand modeling
Low emission aircraft will allow to develop regional air traffic from underused airports, offering a time saving and low emission alternative to ground transportation like cars.
Assessing the future passenger demand on regional routes requires to estimate the part of ground traffic that can be captured by the future regional flights. GH Aviation Consulting built a methodology for a startup hybrid H2-electric engine manufacturer to estimate the passenger demand for regional routes considering existing air & ground traffic.
Legacy 19 seater aircraft manufacturer
Market analysis / Product strategy
Established manufacturers of small regional aircraft face strategic questions today. They are still selling aircraft, but they will soon face competition from new entrants offering low emission products. Key decisions like being involved in new aircraft developments or offering new low emission engines have to be taken.
GH Aviation Consulting produced elements to help answering these questions like a thorough market analysis of the 19 seater aircraft segment identifying the main usages, the future competition and the potential future growth drivers like the new regional mobility.
Flying Green Premium Startup airline in France
Airline Business plan
Flying Green is a French startup airline project aiming at offering a premium service from Paris while applying the most advanced environmental friendly practices in a pragmatic manner.
The consulting team led by Gabriel produced the business plan of this project airline, allowing to define its positioning on the market, its main routes and fleet planning. Thanks to this business plan the Flying Green team is now able to present a robust case to investors and to aircraft lessors.
Flying Green will start operations with A320neo aircraft, using as much as possible Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). They have also recently signed a Letter of Intention for the acquisition of hybrid fuel-electric aircraft.
Vistara Premium airline in India
Ancillary products strategy and pricing
Ancillary services are optional extras that passengers can buy in addition to their tickets, forming a major part of airline revenues. Vistara, a leading Indian airline, offers these services to enhance passenger comfort, differentiating from low-cost competitors. The challenge is identifying the right customers, pricing, and timing for each service. Should WiFi be free or paid? When should services be offered – at booking or before boarding?
Gabriel's consulting team aided Vistara in addressing these questions. They conducted a comprehensive survey of Indian passengers for market segmentation, analyzed Vistara's ticket data, and benchmarked its ancillary offerings against other airlines. This helped Vistara refine its extra services and pricing strategies.
Air Belgium Long haul airline in Europe
Airline Business Plan
The COVID crisis forced many airlines to re-invent themselves and to seek new fundings.
The consulting team led by Gabriel produced a robust data driven business plan for Air Belgium detailing a new network strategy and the introduction of a new aircraft type in the fleet. The needs in terms of new investments were justified providing confidence to investors.
Thanks to this deliverable Air Belgium has been able to find the necessary investments to develop its new fleet and network strategy that is now in place. Moreover the new business plan was implemented directly in the airline CFO's financial model allowing to track and monitor the execution of the plan and to take the appropriate corrective actions.
Nella Start-up airline in Brazil
Airline Financial Model
As an airline CFO developing a financial model from a blank sheet for a startup project might require time and expertise that can be missing.
The consulting team led by Gabriel developed a customised financial model adapted to a new airline in Brazil allowing the CFO to plan and monitor the development of the project from a financial perspective. Profit and Loss, Cash Flow and Balance Sheet models were built in an analytic way providing the flexibility to adapt to the fast changing environment.
Aircalin Regional & Long haul carrier in the Pacific
Airline performance analysis
The COVID crisis forced some airlines to trigger social plans to be able to survive and to resume operations in a sustainable way.
The consulting team led by Gabriel produced an airline performance analysis to the management team. Performance Indicators were built from the airline data and benchmarked with peers. These performance indicators are today implemented in the management dashboard of Aircalin.. The clear and data driven comparisons helped Aircalin's management team to take decision for the social plan launched in January 2021.
Air Vanuatu Regional airline in the Pacific
Airline transformation plan, business plan
As a small regional carrier operating mainly turboprops, developing an international network with 100+ seater jets such as the A220 involves a lot of changes. The consulting team led by Gabriel designed a transformation plan for Air Vanuatu assessing their current organisation in terms of flight operations, maintenance and commercial. We have defined a roadmap of precise actions to perform to be able to turn Air Vanuatu into a successful and efficient regional carrier in the Pacific. We have also refined the vision of Air Vanuatu by producing a robust business plan detailed the fleet & network developments and the expected financials.
Due to COVID crisis impact in 2020 Air Vanuatu changed their strategy and cancelled the airline regional development plan.
Uganda Airlines National start-up carrier in Africa
Airline build-up, branding strategy
Uganda's government decided to reborn its defunct national carrier in 2019. Investments were made in new aircraft (Bombardier CRJs and Airbus A330-800s). The Airbus Consulting team brought expertise in different areas of the airline like strategy, financial modeling, flight operations, maintenance, network planning to develop the airline organisation, processes, and staff preparing it to long haul operations. The consulting team led by Gabriel produced elements to define the branding positioning and the commercial strategy of Uganda Airlines aiming at attracting more tourists to visit the country.
Zena Start-up airline project in Mayotte
Market potential analysis
Airlines are crucial in the development of countries. As an island, having its own airline allows to have a greater control of its economic strategy, like the development of tourism.
A lot of opportunities exist in Mayotte in the Indian ocean. Zena is a project airline for which the Airbus Consulting team led by Gabriel performed a deep market analysis that was presented to key stakeholders in Mayotte. The project consists in developing a network of air services corresponding to the needs of the island with more affordable prices for locals and tourists.
Garuda group Asian national carrier
Airline performance analysis
The Garuda group gathers a full service carrier (Garuda) and a low cost sister airline (Citilink). The group faced critical financial trouble in 2021 mainly due to COVID crisis and had to build a restructuring plan.
The consulting team led by Gabriel provided an analysis of the revenue and cost performance of the Garuda group identifying the main areas of possible improvements with regards to a quantified benchmark with a set of peers airlines.
Air Oceania Start-up airline project in the Pacific
Airline business plan
Air Oceania is a project airline led by a domestic airline based in New Caledonia named Air Loyauté. The idea of Air Oceania is to develop more regional connections between New Caledonia and the rest of the Pacific including South East Asia.
The consulting team led by Gabriel helped the project team to develop a robust business plan assessing the demand for new routes from/to New Caledonia and developing a network & fleet plan accordingly. The investments required to create the airline were quantified and justified in order to be able to present the project to investors. The Air Oceania project is currently on hold due to the Covid crisis that stopped its development as of today.
Air Tahiti Domestic airline in the Pacific
Airline business plan
Air Tahiti operate turboprop aircraft flights between the French Polynesian islands over a network that has the size of Europe. In 2018-2019 the airline made public they were investigating the possibility to develop longer haul routes operating potentially larger jet aircraft such as the Airbus A220s.
The consulting team led by Gabriel produced a complete business plan to Air Tahiti to evaluate the key drivers allowing for this expansion, the investment required and the impacts on the airline organisation and business.
Pilbara Airlines Start-up airline in Australia
Business plan review
Startup airlines project teams sometimes require an expert feedback on the business plan they have put together. To confirm the numbers, the way of presenting the storyline, the financial KPIs to investors.
The consulting team led by Gabriel has reviewed a lot of business plans to help entrepreneurs to refine their projects. Among them, Pilbara Airlines has been a very interesting case of charter operations to the North West of Australia where the business is all about Fly-In Fly-Out FIFO workers in the mining industry.
Ghana Airways National carrier in Africa
Airline business plan
This project was related to an English speaking country surrounded by Francophone neighbours. Due to history this country has more links with Nigeria and other former British colonies than with Cote d’Ivoire, Togo or Benin.
The government investigated the potential for the creation of a national carrier to develop more air routes from or to the economic capital, helping the economic development of the country and creating a new aviation hub in West Africa. The consulting team led by Gabriel developed a complete business plan for this airline project, idenfiying the main routes and the projected financials.
This allowed the governement to release a call for tender to operate the new airline. The bid has been recently won by Ashanti Airlines.
Sudan Airways National carrier in Africa
Airline transformation plan, business plan
Sudan Airways is one of the oldest airline in Africa. Due to political instability its operations were reduced in 2018 when the consulting led by Gabriel was contracted to define a transformation plan of the airline. All the main departments of the airline – flight operations, maintenance, commercial – were assessed and a clear vision based on a robust business plan was defined. All this allowed to define a roadmap to re-develop Sudan Airways into an international carriers operating regional to long haul routes – as it used to do in the past.
Despite the energy of the airline team, new political instability stopped the development project that is still on-hold as of today.
Air Namibia National carrier in Africa
Route studies
In 2018 Air Namibia was looking for new route opportunities to be operated in complement to their long haul service to Germany and in connection to their regional network.
The consulting team led by Gabriel analysed the demand and the potential profitability of several long haul routes quantifying the point to point traffic and the potential for attracting connecting passengers.