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Partnership for

prosperity
Whether enlisted to maximise fuel efficiency, retrofit a
companys maintenance facilities or start a new airline
from scratch, Airbus Consulting Services is changing
the airline industry, one client at a time.

Captain Mohamed Ahmed, as Director of Operations for Air Arabia, prides himself on his companys standard of excellence. Part
of our policy is to continually challenge whatever we do, trying to
achieve better results. We dont take anything for granted, he says.
Which is why, when he was looking to maximise fuel and flight
efficiency for the airlines fleet, composed of 27 Airbus A320s with
44 more on order, he turned to Airbus Consulting Services. Any
airlines fuel bill is the biggest share of the pie. The costs, especially these days, are extremely high. So we were looking for further
cost-reduction initiatives.

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Airbus Consulting Services audited every aspect of Air Arabia,

from engineering to operations. While they found that Captain
Ahmeds team was on the right track, their resulting list of recommendations would change the way the airline does its operational
monitoring and communication. One of the most impactful results
was the implementation of a programme called FEMIS, which focuses directly on fuel-saving initiatives. The software extracts flight
information from a planes black box and delivers data on the many
different factors that can affect fuel usage. Captain Ahmed and his
crew were then able to analyse this data for insights into how they
could optimise fuel consumption, like using a single engine to taxi,
modifying the aircrafts descent profile or finding the ideal altitude
to deploy the landing gear. The consultation was extremely useful.
We have already saved up to three percent of our total fuel bill, and
it gave the management better tools to base their decisions on in
the future. Today, we are operating more efficiently than we did
even a year ago. And we hope that a year from now well be even
more efficient.

09.11.12 17:01

Do you want to contact Airbus Consulting services?

Please write to: customerservices.consulting@airbus.com

business, we establish and keep long-term relationships with our

Consulting Services clients who are first of all our Airbus customers, Pedron continues.
An understanding of corporate ethos and client feedback is what
guides Airbus consultants to develop new services. Working with
an African airline is very different than working with an Asian
airline, says Serge Golofier, Flight Operations Consulting Services
Director at Airbus. People simply dont react in the same way,
so we have to adapt our own recommendations for maximum effectiveness. In 2010, Golofier worked to create an African airline
from scratch through Airbus Airstart programme. Created in 2007,
Airstart provides capability assistance for airlines in start-up, rapid
growth or transformation structuring existing airlines organisations and helping new airlines get off the ground. In this instance,
a countrys national airline had gone bankrupt, and it was important for the government to reestablish one. Utilising some of the
resources of the former company, the consulting team worked for
eight months to get the new airline flight-ready.
I went through every single department of the flight operations,
from crew management and training to operations control. As a
consultant who has worked for airlines for 15 years, I have my
own benchmarks that help me define best practices for them and
increase their operational efficiency, says Golofier. The analysis
generated a list of recommendations that were agreed upon with
the airline, and from this they developed a plan of execution for
the months ahead. The final test is witnessing that first flight with
the crew and passengers on board theres the evidence youve
achieved your goal.

No room to cut corners

airbus Consulting services offers a variety

of services to customers, including ight
operations, fuel efciency and software
relating to airlines core business operations

Airbus Consulting Services was formed in 2004, when feedback

from Airbus customers consistently pointed to an industry need for
support and performance enhancement in operational areas. When
I started in 2006, we had roughly 1012 service lines and were primarily looking at maintenance and engineering capabilities for Airbus operators, says Annick Pedron, Head of Consulting Services at
Airbus. Weve since doubled the amount of services offered to our
customers, including flight operations, fuel efficiency and software
relating to airlines core business operations.

Its time to fly with Airstart!

Today, Airbus consultants have worked on more than 200 projects
globally, advising clients on subjects ranging from facing environmental changes to anticipating evolutions in regulations and technology. We combine concrete experience in airline organisation
most of our team comes from airlines with our own experience as
an aircraft manufacturer. Our specificity is that, being in the aircraft

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Not only operators benefit from Airbus Consulting Services: Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul facilities can as well. Srdjan Miskovic,
director of JAT Tehnika, a Belgrade-based MRO, realised in 2011
that the company needed to extend its maintenance capabilities to
the Airbus aircraft families. Airbus covers a huge part of the market, and we thought, Why are we missing out on this? When it
came to acquiring the training that JAT Tehnika needed in order to
work on Airbus planes, Miskovic went straight to the source. Our
philosophy here is that in order to maintain aircraft, you have to
learn from the manufacturer, not an outside consultant, because its
just not the same. If you cut corners, youll have problems later.
Pedron agrees. When we deliver a recommendation, were never
compromising safety. We know our products, we know our operations. We want to look at efficiency while maintaining the safety of
the entire operation.
As a result of its collaboration with Airbus Consulting Services, JAT Tehnika was able to attain everything it needed to get its
maintenance certification from the aviation authorities, including
trained personnel, an adapted facility and all the required tools and
equipment to begin maintenance. We worked together in a small
friendly partnership approach to fulfill wishes and possibilities
without compromising safety. The training they provided for us is
one of a kind, Miskovic reflects. This capability is important because when we approach airlines about performing maintenance on
their fleet, we can say we learned from Airbus, we work together
with Airbus. Thats something significant. Its a big reference.
Jess Holl

09.11.12 17:01