A new operating model
that worked
through the night.

The business needed to change

The business needed to handle growth in flights without its costs growing faster than the work. It also needed an operation that could make decisions across departments and perform consistently through the night.

I helped develop the transformation while at PA Consulting, then joined dnata to manage implementation across Airline Services, an organisation of 15,000 staff.

Make the intended operation tangible

At two in the morning, the shift manager needed the authority and information to run the shift. Each flight needed clear ownership. Gate and ramp teams needed the training and coordination to work in their changed roles. Problems could not simply wait for the senior managers to arrive.

For about eighteen months, I brought around fifteen managers together for two hours each week to work through the new roles and the handovers between departments. Their knowledge exposed gaps in training and cover that the original review had missed. We adapted the implementation while keeping the business purpose clear.

Adapt the design to operating reality

A major customer’s decision to retain its own dispatchers meant operating two arrangements on the same ramp. We had to account for both in the training, staffing and cost model. That was a real operating consequence to manage.

The result

The programme removed USD 6.11 million in annual costs, about three quarters of the original USD 8.17 million projection. We protected the operation’s ability to perform its work, which limited the savings available.

The contribution was continuing leadership through the decisions that made the design workable: clarifying responsibility, using the managers’ operating knowledge, resolving interfaces and adjusting the programme as constraints became clear.

The 15,000-person figure describes the organisation covered by the programme. USD 6.11 million is the annual cost removed; USD 8.17 million was the original projected annual saving.