BUSINESS PLAN PRODUCTION

PROJECT STATUS : ACTIVE
  • LAUNCH DATE : JAN 2017

  • PRIMARY TARGET : Airlines

  • PROJECT FUNCTIONAL AREA : Others

  • PROJECT FOCUS : Airline Strategy, Business Plan Definition, Project Management

  • PROJECT SPONSOR :


Project Summary

The construction of the original Business Plan of an airline is probably the most crucial component of its life cycle.

Without a sound Business Plan the company will demonstrate to the outside world a lack of direction and vision, banks will not support the project and aircraft manufacturers will not be tempted to grant most favorable conditions for the purchase or lease of their equipment.

Without the active support of the public, banks and aircraft manufacturers, any airline project is doomed to fail eventually.

Project Description

Without a solid Business Plan no airline project will materialize. Airsource Partners' experts will help you build, review or complete your Business Plan for a success launch or turnaround of your Airline.

Building a solid and financially sound Business Plan certainly calls for a good dose of inspiration and vision from the person behind the original idea but also requires full-time availability and dedication, solid competences in several key areas (network management, IT, finance, fleet planning, flight operations, sales and distribution to name a few) as well as editorial and presentation skills.

Airsource Partners has selected a number of experts in possession of a deep industry knowledge in all areas to be covered at some stage during the process of the creation of a Business Plan. These experts have been retained on the basis of their areas of expertise, past track records, availability and location.

All retained experts fully support Airsource Partners’ mission. Airsource Partners will coordinate the action of all experts involved and act as the airline’s unique contact, thus allowing the selected professionals to focus their attention and energy on the on-time delivery of the Business Plan.

The Business Plans prepared by industry experts selected by Airsource Partners will include all major components expected from any Business Plan for a start-up airline (or an airline in a turn-around situation).

These components include, but are not necessary limited, to the following items:

• EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Description of airline concept (scope, revenue/cost structure, service offering, aircraft types, major markets served) / Target customer and perceived opportunity / Competitive advantage over incumbent carriers / Market share expectations and competitive strategy / Financial highlights: operating margin, profitability, etc. / Management team’s airline operations experience level / Capitalization plan and ROI expectations

• INDUSTRY & TARGET MARKET: Industry overview / Target market analysis / Economic state (GDP) / Demographics & population / Income statistics / Growth rates / Air travel market size and trends / Forecasts for air travel / O&D pax/cargo traffic demand by market

• COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS: Incumbent airlines operating in the marketplace / Current competitors’ market share by route / Competitor service offerings (including aircraft type/age) / Incumbent airline frequencies & schedules / Fare comparison by service class and route / Barriers to market-entry (gates, slots, bilateral agreements, etc.)

• SERVICE OFFERING: Overall Concept / Mission/Vision Statement / Scope (domestic, regional, international, network) / Markets to serve / Headquarters & Airport base(s) / Target customer segment / Route structure (local, hub/spoke, point-to-point) / Frequency / Schedule / Product / service offering driving cost structure( Seat pitch; Seat assignments; Boarding process; Service-class offering (economy, business, first, pods, beds); Catering (hot meals, limited, purchase, beverage-only, etc.); Aircraft interior (leather, bins, window size, lighting, age, etc.); Duty-free & in-flight shopping; In-flight entertainment (IFE) - live TV, internet, video; Power & IFE at seat) / Kiosk/online check in / Airport lounges / Customer loyalty program (FFP &CRM) / Amenities (towels, pillows, blankets, socks, eye masks, etc)

• AIRCRAFT SELECTION: Capacity (pax/cargo) to meet demand / Range to fly missions / Economics for profitability / Maintenance costs / Fuel efficiency / Reliability / Engines (fuel - range - performance) / Winglets (fuel/range/performance) / Fleet commonality / Avionics / Buy vs. lease / New vs. Used / Age / Insurance (airframe, engine, pax/cargo liability) / Noise/emissions

• PARTNERSHIPS: Alliances / Code-sharing / Partnering

• SERVICE ENTRY and GROWTH STRATEGY

• OPPORTUNITY: Estimated market share by market & route / Fare pricing by class & route / Load factor by class & route / Expected operating revenue, costs, and margins / Profit potential and sustainability / Sensitivity analysis of profitability under various scenarios

• MARKETING & DISTRIBUTION PLAN: Marketing Strategy / Marketing Mix (4Ps): Product (service offering) + Price (fares, pricing and yield) + Place (sales and distribution: Internet direct, Internet wholesale &3rd party, Call Center, City Ticket Offices, Airport ticket counters (walk ups), Global Distribution Systems (GDS), Travel Agents, Corporate sales, Other (kiosks, etc), method (cash, credit, etc) + Promotion (advertising)

• OPERATIONS PLAN: Labor (Pay rates & scales; Benefits; In&out-sourcing; Unions (contracts) / Administration / Distribution / Airport Operations / Customer Service / Maintenance (line, light, heavy, equipment) / Ground Operations (ramp) / Dispatch / Flight Operations / Training / Fuel purchasing & hedging & policies / Technology (IT) / ETOPS (if applicable) / Cargo (Freight & Mail) / Facilities / Equipment

• MANAGEMENT TEAM: Organizational Chart / Executive Biographies & Resumes (CVs) for the 5 key functions (Airport Operations; Flight Operations; Maintenance Operations; Finance; Marketing & Distribution) / Other Management (VPs) / Independent Board of Directors / Professional Advisors &Consultants

• RISKS AND MITIGATION PLAN: Business model risk / Market share penetration / Fuel costs / Default on aircraft liabilities / Safety / Weather / Geo-political / Economic / Regulatory / Terrorism / Infrastructure / Gates & slots availability

• FINANCIALS (5-year pro forma): Income Statement (P&L) / Balance Sheet / Statement of Cash Flows / Airline operating statistics & financial ratios

• IMPLEMENTATION SCHEDULE: Iterative Development Phase (Business plan development; Financial model development; Management team assembly; Aircraft selection; Investor’s road show) / Launch Phase: 12-18 months (Funded Certification; Aircraft sourcing; Certification; Staffing; Facilities; Equipment) / Begin Flight Operations: 0 to 12 months (Initial Growth Phase; 3 to 5 years)

• CAPITALIZATION PLAN: Capital Structure / Key management team investment / Startup capital needs / Seed capital sources / Aircraft financing / Venture funding / Equity Offering (if applicable) / Cash required from investors / Equity offer for investment / Use of funds / Anticipated return on investment (ROI) / Investor exit strategy / Timing




Experts / companies available for this project


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AIROPS Consulting Group - USA
Florida-based AIROPS Consulting Group was created 15 years ago by John Popolizio. John is a seasoned airline executive boasting over 25 years of experience in the aviation industry. AIROPS Consulting Group provides a wide range of aviation services including among others business process reengineering, project management, business analytical services and other general consulting services in a selection of functional domains, including flight operations and resource management. Today the company has clients in the US and the EMEA zones.


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Jorge Miller & Team - Argentina
Jorge Miller's Team is a task force with solid skills in Liability Audit, Fare Proration, Simplified Interline Settlement (SIS), Revenue Accounting and Audit and Revenue Recovery, acquired at the contact of important Latin American airline companies.


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Ravindra - France
Ravindra has a hands-on experience in the design, implementation and monitoring of loyalty solutions for airlines. He has already successfully conceived and implemented scores of FFPs at several airlines of the EMEA region. He opened his own consulting practice in the domain of FFPs several years ago and is also very knowledgeable in the area of CRM.


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Pierre - France
Paris-based Pierre has over 25 years of aviation expertise acquired at the contact of many players of the air transport industry. He has an extensive experience working in Africa in particular. Pierre now runs his private consulting practice in the aviation sector.


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William - France
Bill has 20+ years of experience in internal and external consulting in Revenue Management & Pricing. He now lives in France with his wife and kids. Expert has implemented Revenue Management and Pricing solutions at various European airlines and other travel companies such as Air France, SNCF, Gulf Air or Club Med.


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Graeme - England
UK-based Graeme is a former commercial pilot having fulfilled various management, high profile positions at various airlines in the area of flight operations, safety and training. Most recently this expert served as the Sr VP Operations of a fast growing Western Asian carrier. The expert started his own consulting practices a few years ago.


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EDIfly - Luxemburg
Innovative Software’s EDIfly provides a sleek and high-performance platform to bring Messaging and Message Switching 2.0 to process communication in aviation, rail, logistics etc. A fully backwards-compatible concept enables you to gradually cut-over mission-critical processes without a ‚big-bang’ scenario of changing everything i "one logical second".


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Jean-Paul - UAE
Jean-Paul has a very strong airline background acquired during his past tenures at a major European airline and a leading aircraft manufacturer. He has an extensive sales and marketing experience completed with a thorough technical expertise. He is now based in Dubai, UAE, where he started his own consulting practice a few years ago.


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AIRSOURCE PARTNERS - France
Airsource Partners was created in October 2011 by Christian Gossel, a seasoned +30-year-airline industry veteran. Christian acquired his airline experience at various airline solutions providers. His responsibilities included over the years projet & account management, sales & marketing and business development. His areas of expertise include sales & distribution, revenue management & pricing, flight operations. Christian launched Airsource Partners back in 2011 to help small/medium-sized airlines - that often lack internal resources in key domains - find an easy and AFFORDABLE path to aviation skills and expertise for a better future.


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Eric - France
Eric is a French national with a solid hands-on airline experience in the areas of cargo & logistics, sales & marketing and customer service management acquired during his tenures at various major European carriers


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Jeepal - India
India-based Jeepal is a knowledgeable and experienced aviation specialist with diverse and in-depth knowledge of airline operations and regulatory compliance. He has worked for various airlines both in consulting and operational roles.


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Neil - France
France-based Expert Neil is a result-driven executive with management and marketing experience in high technology, globally competitive industries requiring with a long term strategic vision. He has held major management and consultancy roles for several aircraft manufacturers, exec jets operators and other aviation service providers. Neil has a working experience of Asia also.


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ACMI Operator #3 - Eastern Europe
This ACMI Operator based in Central/Eastern Europe offers medium/long term ACMI solutions highly customized to the needs of its clients. This airline has been selected by Airsource Partners on the basis of its ability to deliver superior customer service in full adherence to the most stringent operational and safety requirements.


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Piotr - Poland
Poland-based Piotr has an extensive experience in aviation. He heads a major IT solution provider in his native country with several clients in the air transport industry


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Gabriel - Nigeria
Gabriel is a seasoned aviation top executive based in Lagos, Nigeria who has been in contact of the aviation industry for close to 30 years now. His previous tenures include the role of managing director of a Nigerian airline. Expert #55 currently owns and runs several businesses in the area of air transport, travel and IT.


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Amitesh - INDIA
India-based Amitesh is a result-oriented professional with over 7 years of experience in strategic planning and implementation, project management, operations, resource allocation and customer services acquired at the contact of several airlines of the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East


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Onno - Belgium
Belgium-based Onno is an experienced business professional with a 19-Year track record in managing international transport business at 2 major European airlines. He is also experienced in the areas of Human Resource and Executive Search


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Justin - USA
NYC/US-based Justin is currently serving as a strategic advisor for a European airline. He has held several consulting posts in the past for various companies. Expert is a dual US/UK ctizen with full EU work rights


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Andrew - Lebanon
UK-based Andrew is a skilled and dynamic aviation professional with hands-on airline experience who has served in a variety of roles in commercial and operational environments with a proven track record. He specializes in the acquisition and management of aviation assets for companies and ultra high net worth individuals.


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Cpt. Peter - Australia
Peter, a dual Australia/UK citizen now living in Australia, served as a pilot in the Royal New-Zealand and Australian Air Forces and has flown commercially for Qantas and Korean Air. Peter is particularly competent in safety management, SMS, safety investigation, accident investigation, and systems analysis. He has special competency in flight data analysis, related to kinematics and control derivatives. As a further area of capabilities Peter has Flt Ops QA systems and process audit experience and 10 years experience in operational QA, including external and internal audits.


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Philip - Netherlands
Netherlands-based Phil has been active in the air transport industry for over 20 years. Phil has held various sales and account-management positions during his successive job tenures at large international airline IT services providers. Phils' main areas of expertise are PSS (passenger reservation solutions), distribution (GDS, airlines) and communication.


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Krzysztof - Poland
Krzysztof is based in Poland. He spent over 20 years with LOT Polish in different roles, mostly in marketing & sales, strategy and training. He is very familiar with the eastern european environment in commercial aviation.


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Slim - France
Slim, of Tunisian citizenship, lives in the Toulouse area in France. He served both at consulting firms and airlines. His preferred area of expertise is flight operations. Expert is fluent in arabic, french and english.


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Jack - France
Paris-based Expert Jack already has a solid background in aviation engineering and esign. He has taken part over the past few years to several programs for 2 major aircrfat manufacturers. Jack has dual US/Irish citizenship and has lived in Singapore also.


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Sean - India
Mumbai/India-based Sean is an aviation professional with hands-on experience of airline management and a profound knowledge of the African aviation market acquired through his multi-year tenure as the COO of an African carrier. He also worked on several aviation consulting projects during his rich carrier.


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Bryson - USA
US-based Expert Bryson has over 15 years of experience in commercial aircraft financing and appraisal.He also has extensive experience in aircraft remarketing and acquisition as well as aircraft opportunity sourcing for equity funds clients looking to build portfolios in the aviation sector.


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Haseeb - Netherlands
Haseeb is an aviation marketing professional with proven executive ability. He combines expert strategic and tactical marketing expertise with strong qualification in launching cost‐effective airline marketing plans and strategies with “bottom‐line” orientation. He lives in the Netherlands and speaks fluently Dutch, French, Arabic and English


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Delia - FRANCE
Paris-based Delia has strong on-hands aviation expertise obtained during her tenure at the then-leading African airline and projects undertaken by the aviation consulting practice she started over 10 years ago. She has also successfully led a number of projects for several African CAAs and other Governmental agencies.


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Shoukry - UAE
Shoukry is based in AbuDhabi, UAE. He boasts over 28 years of commercial aviation and avionics experience in the aerospace industry including leadership roles in product support, business development and product marketing. He also led projects in the UK and France. He has dual UK/US citizenship and is fluent in English, French and Arabic languages.


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Medhane - Canada
Medhane is the former CEO of a well-known, very successful African airline. He brings with him decades of very valuable aviation expertise and an unequaled network of contacts at airlines and government levels. Medhane now splits his life between Africa and America.


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Aviation Info Tech - UK
Aviation Info Tech (AIT) was founded by Peter Magill, a seasoned industry expert with hands on airline experience. A UK-based flight operations consultancy comprised of highly skilled aviation professionals with extensive hands-on airline experience during their professional careers, AIT specializes in the provision of expert services for private and corporate operators and airlines in the areas of flight operations, aircraft performance and flight planning, technical publications and IOSA compliance and certification. Peter is a former RAF and commercial airline pilot who keeps his EASA ATPL license current on the B737. Peter is a 50-year aviation professional, a former Technical Pilot and senior airline manager, who now provides guidance and support to commercial air transport and private operators complying through AIT with the requirements of the leading national aviation authorities. As a DFO, he recently led an AOC holder through their IASO audit.


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John - USA
John is the President of an aviation consulting firm based in Florida, USA. John has a long experience of international, multicultural projects in the America and EMEA areas. He also has an on-hand experience of airline management for being the CEO of a regional US-based airline.


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Lotfi - TUNISIE
North Africa-based Lotfi has over 25 years of airline experience. He has taken several managerial positions for an important flag carrier of the Maghreb region


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Richard - France
Richard is a cargo expert based in France boasting many years of practical, hands-on cargo experience acquired during successive tenures at various passenger/freight operators


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DV Consultant - France
Expert bio currently being updated. Thank you for your kind understanding. For any urgent inquiry contact Airsource Partners at c.gossel@airsource-partners.com


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Sadim Solutions - Kenya
Expert bio currently being updated. Thank you for your kind understanding. For any urgent inquiry contact Airsource Partners at c.gossel@airsource-partners.com


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Rich - Cayman Islands
Expert bio currently being updated. Thank you for your kind understanding. For any urgent inquiry contact Airsource Partners at c.gossel@airsource-partners.com


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SAT CONSULTANTS LIMITED - Kenya
Currently being updated. Thank you for your kind understanding. For urgent inquiry contact Airsource Partners at c.gossel@airsource-partners.com


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CAI - Compagnie Aéronautique Internationale - France
Company bio currently being updated. Thank you for your kind understanding. For any urgent inquiry contact Airsource Partners at c.gossel@airsource-partners.com


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CA - Compagnie Aeronautique Internationale - France
CAI gathers a number of independent aeronautical experts all with a hands-on experience acquired at the contact of the aviation industry. CAI's clients include airlines, MRO service providers, governmental agencies and other aviation-related services providers in the EMEA and US zones. Its expertise covers civil aircraft as well as helicopters.


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Mrs Fatou GUEYE - France
Fatou's vision ? Change Africa Brand. Her Mission? Empower 1M+ founders & CEOs be successful. How? With her team of talented experts, they put together their skills and expertise to make their customers become their clients' First choice. Fatou's background is in Brand Strategy, Customer Experience & Digital Transformation. She is an expert with 18+ years of experience. She founded DIGAL Consulting back in 2022 and become DIGAL Consulting's CEO ever since. Before that Fatou worked for Air France for nearly 14 years. Within the airline, she managed the brand positioning & customer experience team, spearheaded the growth of the most profitable long-haul product of the airline, improving its international ranking, growing revenues and profitability in a highly competitive market. Fatou is a certified ENAC engineer. She holds 2 Masters from ENSEEIHT and from CENTRALE SUPELEC. She is the first ever Senegalese woman graduating from the Global Executive MBA of INSEAD in 2021.


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Eco Modal Consult - Belgium
Before starting his own consulting practice in 2013, Mark Faber, the Founder and Principal Advisor of Eco Modal Consult, LLC has held senior positions at Qatar Airways, Delta and Boeing Corporation. Mark's career has primarily focused on solving the operational caveats of how aircraft transition more cost effectively, with maximum revenue generating capability, through the world airspace in commerce. EMC is committed to maximize operational synergies in airline, airport, airplane, & airspace and how to best deploy synchronized schedule assets within the world aviation environment. One underlying theme is to assist those airlines that are at risk for sustainability, have limited or no decision support technology, have limited resources and assets to deploy, while mitigating the economic burden which large aviation consulting firms impose for their services. The company believes that it is paramount that there is a realtime commitment, to sustainable development of aligned transportation systems, through economically responsible strategies, in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to preserve and promote biodiversity. Mark, a US-national, is based in Brussels


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Christophe - France
Christophe is based in the south western part of France. He has 20+ years of experience acquired at the contact or various MROs and other airline services providers. In previous positions he held operational responsibilities for a subsidiary of the AF KLM group and for the French Air Force.


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Pascal - France
Paris-based Pascal is a consultant specializing in projets with OEMs, in particular in cabon design, repair and retrofit. He is also involved in sales and marketing activities with OEMs and aftermarkets of mechanical and composite parts


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Andy - UK
Andy is a seasoned aviation professional with 20+ years of experience in all aspects of airside operations. He started his own consulting practice in September 2012.


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Bogdan - Romania
Romania-based Bogdan has extensive experience in the areas of flight operations, air navigation and air space management. He is very knowledgeable on the eastern european air transport industry.


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Fernando - Portugal
Fernando's experience and credentials can be obtained upon request to Airsource Partners.


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Brian - UK
UK-based Brian boasts 40 years in the aviation industry acquired at the contacts of several industry leading airlines. He is an experienced consultant specializing in airline start ups and expansion projects. He has advised many airlines in he Middle East, Far East and South America. He is also expert in regional airline start up projects and business plans, sales & marketing plans, customer services. diligence, route analysis and feasibility studies. Expansion plans are also covered as are matters of pilot training and ground handling.


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Roland - UAE
Dubai, UAE-based Roland is a seasoned international customer service, operational and commercial manager with over 25 years of experience improving and starting-up aviation operations overseas. He has held several operational and managerial position for various airlines and airports in the M-E / Indian subcontinent region.


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Christophe - France
Paris-based Christophe boast 20+ years of expertise in the area of finance and aviation. He also has a solid MRO expertise acquired at the contact of several airline technical services providers.


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Rudolph - Netherlands
Since he launched his own consulting practice in 1999 Netherlands-based Rudolph has been working on a wealth of projects for various airlines, mostly in technical, operations and regulatory areas.


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Edward - United States
US-based Expert Edward has a wealth of experience in operations management and consulting for large airlines and airports. Background spans short/lo,g range planning, policy formulation, P&L management, safety/security, logistics, project management and new business development. Edward also has hands-on management experience in catering.


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David - Italy
Of dual Italian / Canadian citizenship, Paris-based David has shown proven capabilities in strategy development and deployment , pricing, market analysis, negotiating and business planning during his various tenures at the 3 largest airlines in Italy


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Antoine - Lebanon
Antoine's experience and credentials can be obtained upon request to Airsource Partners.


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Radoslaw - Poland
Poland-based Piotr has an extensive experience in aviation. He heads a major IT solution provider in his native country with several clients in the air transport industry


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Peter - U.S.A.
Peter's experience and credentials can be obtained upon request to Airsource Partners.


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RB Consulting - Morocco
RB Consulting is based in Casablanca, Morocco. The company was recently created by Rachid Berrada, a former airline executive. Prior to opening his own consulting practice, Rachid acquired an extensive hands-on experience at the contact of Morocco's national carrier Royal Air Maroc.


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R.P.M. Services - UAE
Company bio currently being updated. Thank you for your kind understanding. For any urgent inquiry contact Airsource Partners at c.gossel@airsource-partners.com


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Alain - France


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AEROGESTION - France
Aérogestion is an independent consulting practice founded in 1996 by Marc Rochet and Dominique Gretz with the help of former collaborators from the airline industry. Aérogestion has developed a recognised expertise in the industry by accompanying first and foremost the success of French airline in their development or restructuring projects. The practice has developed its services in the international environment and more specifically on the African continent. Parallel to this geographical development, the practice has broadened its competencies, particularly in the field of Revenue Management, which constitutes today a recognised centre of excellence where Aérogestion practices for several airlines. At present, the practice counts more than a dozen consultants with an average of 20 years of expertise in their field and with competencies covering all of the fields of the industry, such as airline management, sales and distribution, airline operations, airline restructuring or change management. Aerogestion's vocation is to become the airline's partner to accompany the airline in each and every key step of its business or of its investments.


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Gopal - USA