Strategic Planning

A large aviation company asked CA Advisors to develop a strategic plan for future growth. This prospering company had a number of options, including growth through internal investments, restructuring of some of its operating units, and acquisitions. Feasible strategic initiatives were analyzed while considering various business climate circumstances. A decision-support tool was developed to assess pro-forma financial and operational performance. We then identified the most promising course of action, along with pertinent contingencies for the dynamic business environment.

Airline Analysis Method (AAM)

CA Advisors partnered with two management consulting firms to conduct this strategic project for a major international airline. The airline generated more than $1 billion in annual revenues, operating a fleet of about sixty aircraft of various types. The national government owned the airline, but desired to privatize it. CA Advisors teamed up with its partner firms in a turnaround engagement in order to bring sustained profitability to the airline and prepare it for privatization.

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Analytical Reliability-centered Maintenance (RCM)

EPRI, the principal research institute for the power industry, asked CA Advisors to investigate how the application of Reliability-centered Maintenance (RCM) could be enhanced by analytical tools. We conducted a pilot study to demonstrate the scope and applicability of RCM analytical models to capture reliability characteristics and determine the reliability parameters in order to forecast and plan for maintenance events, improving asset management significantly.

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Advanced Engine Maintenance Planning Systems (AEMPS)

Our engine maintenance planning solution consists of four, fully-integrated systems: Engine Reliability System (ERS), Engine Removal Forecast (ERF), Engine Life Optimizer (ELO), and Spare Engine Planning System (SEPS). Designed after substantial research, testing, and validation in real-world applications, these powerful systems incorporate advanced analytical methodologies and applied statistical principles. This gives operators the highly reliable, timely information needed for better decisions in the face of the considerable uncertainty and variability inherent in powerplant maintenance. More...

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Download workshop brochure (Adobe PDF, 397KB)

Project Prioritization / Capital Resource Allocation

Deciding which projects to fund now and which to postpone is difficult and often controversial. We are partnering with Lee Merkhofer Consulting to work closely with a client team to tailor-build a system (software plus processes for collecting the necessary inputs) that the client then uses on an ongoing basis to evaluate projects and optimally allocate resources. The approach is based on formal theory known as real options, which identifies, for any resource constraint, the optimal set of projects and determines the dollar value of each project, accounting for “soft” as well has hard, dollars benefits.

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Materials Management for Repairable/Rotable Parts

Some parts are economically justified to repair. Repairable parts -- often called rotables if tracked during the unserviceable cycle -- are among the most expensive pieces. Decisions for managing repairables are considerably challenging and significantly impact the operation and financial positions. Advanced inventory decision-support systems present a tremendous opportunity for air carriers to lower inventory costs and to optimize resources by right-sizing their inventory stock levels. The state-of-the-art inventory planning for repairables employs multi-echelon inventory modeling. CA Advisors has a dedicated practice in materials management using multi-echelon inventory modeling, which provides scientific and reliable inventory planning solutions.

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Download aviation industry application abstract (Adobe PDF, 150KB)

Fleet Management and Capital Budgeting Seminar
(in cooperation with our partner Gesellschaft fuer Markt und Strategieberatung - GMS)

In today’s relentlessly competitive environment, airlines must accurately determine needed resources to meet business requirements. Investments to make various resources available are the most challenging decisions faced by modern air carriers. Strategy-based capital budgeting and fleet management is a rational methodology to optimize the portfolio of capital projects and investments. Capital decisions are then tied to the airline’s long-range business direction. And, sensible economic analyses of opportunities provide realistic expectations for project benefits. CA Advisors first developed this seminar for a major aircraft manufacturer that wanted to learn its customers’ perspective. We then successfully delivered the seminar for a major international air carrier.

Download seminar brochure (Adobe PDF, 212KB)

Corporate Aviation Fleet Management

A diversified company asked CA Advisors to look into ways to improve the performance of its corporate aviation operations. The company owned and operated its corporate jets, which were managed by a contracted service organization. We analyzed in detail the operating and financial data of the aircraft, and developed methods to improve performance. Our recommendations became the key elements to boost results in various areas ranging from fuel management to revenue-generating chartering.

Airport Security and Safety Seminar

We have developed this seminar to help our airport clients manage the security and safety tasks. The fast-paced, fundamental changes in the today’s commercial aviation environment demands complete re-thinking of safety, security, and reliability of aviation operations. The complexities in providing secured services at airports include a large array of factors with differing degrees of impact. Yet, event uncertainties create difficulties in controlling functions that influence security and safety. The randomness of events that breach security measures and break safety mechanisms further complicates recognizing reoccurrence patterns. Analytical solutions can serve as the appropriate method to capture the key attributes of such paradigms, and deliver information that helps airports significantly improve performance. This seminar offers solutions to such complicated problems that necessitate developing new paradigms.

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Expert Witness in Bankruptcy Litigation

CA Advisors served as the lead expert for a company that was significantly harmed as a result of the alliance with an operator that later declared bankruptcy. Our client requested us to examine all the records of this complex case, and prepare the reasons and justifications for the case against its former partnered company that was going through the bankruptcy proceedings. We structured the case so that all the elements of the claim were vividly supported by the documents, and led our client to have a clear direction going forward with the case, which resulted in the eventual outcome favorable to our client.

Airline Strategic Planning Seminar
(in cooperation with our partner Gesellschaft fuer Markt und Strategieberatung - GMS)

Rapid and intense change in today’s business climate reshapes the fundamental approach to strategic decision-making. New thinking has emerged for ways to face the two vital strategy issues -- where will the airline be in the future and how to get there -- so that a modern air carrier can leverage its strength and capitalize on opportunities. Creating innovative strategies for the new business paradigm marks a proactive approach to the challenges in the volatile, yet exciting, airline business. We have developed this seminar to bring to the strategy-savvy airlines new thinking of mastering strategic planning in order to reap the rewards of performing better while avoiding unstructured, undisciplined response to strategic challenges.

Download seminar brochure (Adobe PDF, 174KB)