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Turning challenges into a business success

Saudi Arabian Airlines

Successfully transforming a national flag carrier into an aviation group

Opening a flag carrier steeped in tradition to new investors is one thing, restructuring it to meet the challenges of a completely new reality quite another. Success depends on working with a partner who has experience in both.

The story

As part of the privatization activities in the aviation sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the national carrier realigned its strategy to address a new reality. The challenge was to preserve what Saudi Arabian Airlines had achieved, and build on it to secure new growth in increasingly competitive skies. Bringing such a large-scale transformational project to a successful completion requires real-world experience - the kind only Lufthansa Consulting can bring to the table.

Passenger growth at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah (the main hub of Saudi Arabian Airlines) including the more than 6 million pilgrims per annum was one driver for the growth of the flag carrier. With this success also comes great responsibility in making sure hub operations keep up with increasing traffic. At the same time, deregulation of the aviation sector in the Kingdom is attracting new entrants into the domestic market, creating the need for greater competiveness at all levels of airline operations. Following a 360° needs analysis, Lufthansa Consulting developed a roadmap for transforming the staid flag carrier into a leaner, more focused, more efficient, and more profitable aviation group. From revisiting the network strategy to optimizing the fleet and route plan, from instituting quality management processes to ingraining a new service culture into ground and cabin staff, from restructuring flight operations to realigning international structures and processes for greater efficiency and safety - our experts worked hand in hand with Saudia's professional staff to effect positive change. And at every juncture, Lufthansa Consulting's experience and expertise in enhancing the national carrier's success while helping it adapt to a new culture, both on the operational and the business mission levels, translated into better and quicker results.

Lufthansa Consulting delivers:

  • Airline new positioning and restructuring
  • Business and implementation plan development
  • Support in performance management, on board product, cargo, payment options, PMO

 

Best Consultants 2022

Best Consultants 2022: Lufthansa Consulting ranked among the top consulting firms in Germany

Listed by brandeins, the renowned German business and trend magazine, for the seventh time. Lufthansa Consulting ranked top of the category "aerospace and defense" and ranked high in the area "transport, traffic and logistics". The rating is greatly respected throughout a wide range of industries and is based on recommendations from industry experts and client assessments.