What they asked
Our client was a low-cost airline selling food, beverages and non-food products on board during flights. They were considering the introduction of lightweight, in-flight trolleys, which prompted a full, end-to-end review of the buy-on-board supply and activity chain. Their existing practice was to make maximum use of galley space, but without a clear view on service levels and costs.
What we did
We set up a database with an entire year’s worth of sales data. This enabled us to run different loading scenarios, capturing cost and service levels for each of them. We modelled these scenarios to facilitate decisions while selecting future types of trolleys and cooling devices, loading frequency, load quantities, and loading stations. We also showed impact on service, lost sales, cost and operations for each loading scenario. This led to the development of a proposition to create galley space for an additional assortment by rationalising logistics, load, and equipment.
What we accomplished
The airline achieved new cooling devices, different trolleys, lower loading quantities and frequencies and fewer loading stations. At the same time, they had no loss of service, gained annual savings on fuel and devices, and reduced perishable waste. They increased onboard sales potential due to optimal loading with less use of galley space. They also captured the opportunity of free galley space for promotions, new products and flight-specific loads.