Aviation Consulting Cases

Hi,

Very common question, and one that is often asked by candidates. I think many candidates often over-index on 'type' of cases, and forget the fundamentals. Trying to prepare for a specific type of case, even within an industry vertical is not very helpful. For example, just within aviation, within BCG there have been projects regarding:

• Revenue growth
• Cost optimization / procurement
• Operations performance improvement - e.g. on-time performance, crew productivity
• Pricing
• Personalization & loyalty strategy
• New route expansion
• M&A
• Agile transformation
• Network optimization
• etc

The above list btw is only just for Airlines - if the industry is "Aviation", then note that technically other players in the aviation industry also could be included, including component manufacturers/OEMs, airport operators, government regulatory bodies, cargo carriers etc. And within each of those there are further nuances as well - e.g. for a component manufacturer there might be a topic of B2B salesforce optimization. 

FYI - one of my earliest projects in BCG was an Industry 4.0 project for an airlines component manufacturer, and I used this project as my case interview question when I was an interviewer at BCG. 

So, it really isn't 80/20 to try and predict and prepare for the specific topic because really cases can vary quite significantly. Would it help to do a few different kinds of cases within the aviation industry? Sure. But what would be significantly more beneficial is to work on your fundamentals, ideally you want to be at a level where your fundamentals are strong enough to not worry about about what question you will get.

All the best!

Hi Luk!

Here’s what actually helps you prepare like someone who understands how top consulting firms really operate (and assess).

Most candidates think in “industries.”
Consultants think in problems.

"Aviation" is NOT a case type.
It is a context wrapped around the same strategic and operational questions every other industry faces.

Let me show you what that means.

First thing to know

MBB interviewers never test “aviation knowledge.”
They test whether you can deconstruct any business model down to first principles, even one you’ve never touched before.

Aviation just happens to be a beautiful stress test because the economics are brutal and the constraints are unforgiving.

That’s why so many real projects (and therefore real cases) cluster around a few core levers.

If you understand these five levers, you can handle 95 percent of aviation cases

1. Cost structure compression
Aviation runs on razor-thin margins.
Anything that touches fuel, crew, maintenance, ground ops or fleet utilization will show up in cases.
Not because it’s “aviation,” but because these are the dominant cost drivers in the business model.

2. Revenue quality, not just revenue growth
Airlines love to talk growth.
Consultants worry about yield.
Expect questions around load factor, pricing logic, route profitability, and customer segmentation.

3. Network design and operational resilience
This is where the industry gets uniquely interesting.
Hub vs point-to-point.
Slot constraints.
Aircraft rotation.
Every one of these forces you to think systematically about bottlenecks and trade-offs.

4. Asset productivity
Aircraft are expensive.
The economics depend on how much value you squeeze out of each plane.
This naturally leads to cases around utilization, turn-around times, fleet mix and capex decisions.

5. Adjacent ecosystem dynamics
Airports. OEMs. Cargo. Ground handlers. Regulators.
Aviation is a chain.
A weak link anywhere can be the heart of a case.

But here’s the part most candidates miss

You don’t win aviation cases by knowing aviation.

You win by being able to do three things:

Break a complex, intimidating system into clean, logical building blocks
Interviewer thinks: “Okay, they can handle a heavy industry.”

Prioritize forces and constraints instead of listing buckets
Interviewer thinks: “This person can distinguish noise from signal.”

Translate industry specifics into universal concepts
Interviewer thinks: “This is consultant-level thinking.”

That’s exactly how real MBB teams solve these problems on the ground.

A simple way to practice this

Take any aviation scenario and ask yourself:

“What is the real business problem hiding underneath the aviation wrapper?”

Profitability
Pricing
Utilization
Operational bottlenecks
Strategic prioritization
Capex vs Opex trade-offs
Competitive positioning

If you can articulate the underlying problem in one clean sentence, you are already ahead of 95 percent of candidates.

Hope this helps!
Sidi

___________________

Dr. Sidi S. Koné

Hey Luk :)

Typical aviation cases are usually around profitability of an airline, route optimization, airport capacity planning, fleet strategy, simple M&A logic or fixing operational bottlenecks. They all follow classic case structures, just with aviation flavor, so if you prep general profitability and ops cases you’re already in a good place. 

best, Alessa :)

Hi Luk,

I would be happy to share my thoughts on your question:

• Aviation is not a case type on its own - it's just the industry setting. You’ll still get all types of topics like profitability, growth, operations, or M&A, but in an airline or airport context. I would advise you to focus on mastering all case types and not spend too much time searching for niche aviation-specific frameworks.

You can find more on this topic here: How to succeed in the final interview round.

If you would like a more detailed discussion on how to best prepare for your upcoming interviews, please don’t hesitate to contact me directly.

Best,

Hagen

Nowadays the idea of 'case type' is less useful since virtually all firms are trying to take candidates by surprise and provide 'atypical' cases. 

So I would recommend that you do focus on doing cases from within your industry and then with a broad functional / topical focus AND also doing cases from other industries. 

What you need to exercise and develop if your ability to structure from first principles. 

Adding here a guide you might find useful:

• Expert Guide: Mastering Structuring & Brainstorming

And info on a masterclass I run on first principles thinking:

• Masterclass: First Principle Structuring

Best,
Cristian

That is a smart way to prepare. Don't worry about trying to master the entire technical lexicon of MRO (Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul) or specific FAA regulations. At the generalist entry level, interviewers aren't testing you on specialized industry knowledge; they are testing your ability to apply core logic under unique constraints.

The reality is that 90% of aviation cases are standard profitability, market entry, or cost reduction scenarios, but the levers are specific. When you prepare, focus on three major variables that impact every aviation case: fuel volatility, labor union negotiations, and regulatory constraints (route approval, noise abatement).

If you get a profitability case for an airline, the interviewer is expecting you to segment the cost side immediately into four massive buckets: Fuel, Labor (often unionized, high friction), MRO/Maintenance schedules, and long-term capital expenditure (fleet purchases/leasing). Similarly, if it’s a revenue case, you must immediately differentiate between high-elasticity leisure traffic and low-elasticity business traffic, and layer in ancillary revenue streams. The depth is shown by how quickly you integrate these sector-specific constraints into your framework, not by knowing esoteric facts.

Focus your practice on cases where the capital commitments are massive and inflexible (like buying planes) and where a single variable, like a 10% change in crude oil prices, can immediately sink the entire business. That shows the necessary appreciation for the sector’s financial fragility and operational complexity.

All the best with your prep!

All of them. Honestly. All of them. Don't try to narrow down to a specific subset of problems.