Airline consolidation accelerated in the 2000s due to the deregulation of markets within the EU, while mature deregulated markets such as the US then underwent a second round of consolidation following years of new competition from international players and after multiple restructurings laid the foundation for efficient mergers.

New global leaders have emerged and some of the biggest global airlines recently went through a bankruptcy protection, allowing competitors to get stronger. But such airlines emerged stronger and bigger as a result of being an attractive merger partner after its restructuring.

There are different types of mergers and acquisitions and no strict rules of what to do and how to do it. But airlines almost always merge without proper preparation. In many cases, airlines merge as a defensive move fearing competitive threats. Sometimes, bigger is better, but not always.

Equally relevant and perhaps more challenging are separations. Separations involve splitting up a business or parts of a business. Executing a separation presents specific challenges to ensure the separate pieces can continue to function.

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Every successful merger, acquisition, or disposal has one common underlying dependency.  A strong digital transformation strategy that maintains business continuity and interoperability across key business systems and technologies.  As digital technology is more deeply woven into the very fabric of business operations, the dependency on resilient, modular, and interoperable technology becomes more critical than ever.  The depth of this increased dependency quickly manifests during any merger, acquisition, or disposal that does not address technology up front.  

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Our service capability

Aviado Partners experts have designed, managed and transformed aviation organisations gaining extensive experience in Mergers, Acquisitions, Carve-outs and Spinoffs across jurisdictions including Canada, Australia, Greece, the United Kingdom and at the European Commission, India, and the Middle East, amongst others.

With the experience of our team, Aviado Partners can provide clients a breadth of experience taking into account industry best practice, while retaining flexibility to tailor solutions to a specific situation.
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We can assist with developing a merger or seperation blueprint, or a roadmap for implementation. And if needed, we can also assist to implement and programme manage the transformation.​

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Recent Experience

•  Buy-side analysis on behalf of a major European airline seeking to acquire another major 

•  European airline: included financial modelling of synergy benefits

•  Merger implementation between three airlines in Europe including a full service carrier, a charter

   carrier and a regional shuttle operator: included management redesign, network and product

   consolidation, fleet renewal
•  Strategic advice to the management team of a European airline who found themselves in an

   unplanned merger with another airline. Advice provided focused on risk mitigation and guidance

   on activities to ensure continuing operations

•  Aviation sector expertise provided to the monitoring trustee mandated with the oversight of a

   separation under a mandate from the UK Competition Commission

•  Implementation of merger between two large international airlines in North America

•  Post-acquisition commercial improvement plan for a European airline on behalf of the acquiring

   airline (the world's largest airline group by revenue)

•. Assured interoperability and business continuity for critical business systems during a 17B USD M&A engagement


For further information, please contact a member of our team. You may find their profiles to the right or on the Our Team page.​​

Related Services​

•  Strategy

•  Catalytic Solution

   Environment