Airlines

What we do

Bain’s expertise in airline consulting includes work in the following strategic and operational areas:

We also bring a strong mergers and acquisitions and private equity lens to our work. Collaborating with our Private Equity group and Mergers & Acquisitions practice experts, we can help clients evaluate potential deals through due diligence and execute M&A and post-merger integration.

Our perspective

After several years of heavy losses, efforts by major US airlines to restructure their businesses show signs of paying off. Labor costs as a percent of revenue have declined, load factors have increased substantially and many US majors have grown their share of international flying. Nevertheless, airlines have a lot of work ahead—and need to prepare for industry consolidation—if they expect to earn returns that exceed their cost of capital over a full business cycle.

In Europe, as low-cost carriers have expanded aggressively, network airlines increasingly compete for the high-yield, long-haul traffic. Consolidation is likely in Europe as well, as airlines are pressed to manage capacity in line with demand and invest in network differentiation.

The long-term winners will be large airline groups that can extract high yields, as well as low-cost carriers that manage to maintain their cultures and their keen focus on affordable air travel. Second-tier carriers face some difficult choices, coming under increasing pressure and subject to the ongoing business cycles in the industry.

Client results
We share our clients' ambitions. We work to understand their reality and deliver true results—focusing on strategic decisions and practical actions. And we align our incentives with our clients' objectives, so they know we're in it together. Read the results stories below to learn how we've helped clients realize, and often exceed, their objectives.
Insights
We develop insights that work for our clients. Our approach and recommendations are highly customized and lead to practical actions. Below is a selection of our experts' perspectives on important issues—for our clients and their industries. Visit Bain Insights to read more.
Team

We work as an integrated part of your team, from frontline to C-suite, to deliver true results and make the changes stick. We have a core group of senior airline industry experts that we deploy across the globe.

  • Derek
  • Derek Gerow

    Leader of Bain's Global Airline practice

    Dallas

  • Dave
  • Dave Emerson

    Leader of Bain's Global Airline practice

    Dallas