Booz Allen Named Best Consulting Firm to the Air Traffic Management Industry

An unmatched blend of management, business, and technical consulting earns the firm the Air Traffic Management magazine honor.

Air Traffic Management magazine, the authoritative resource for the global air navigation services and aviation industries, named Booz Allen Hamilton as the 2007 Best Consulting Firm to the air traffic management industry.

The publication recognized the firm’s unique ability to deliver to clients a blend of management, strategy, engineering, and technical support that allows teams to consider issues and objectives from a 360-degree perspective, says principal Brian Legan.

“Most of our competitors are strong either on the management consulting side or the technical side, but only Booz Allen can deliver a balance of both capabilities,” he says.

Vice president Ghassan Salameh adds, “Booz Allen offers a global perspective on issues relevant to the air navigation service provider (ANSP) industry. There is an increasing emphasis on the harmonization of technologies, policies, and procedures, and our perspective offers every client a view into the broader issues and implications.”

Booz Allen undertook its first transportation consulting assignment in 1914—the year the firm was founded. Since that time, demand has exploded for new and enhanced transportation systems, especially in the aviation sector. Today, Booz Allen works with public and private clients throughout North America, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and the Asia Pacific region to provide expertise on ANSP issues.

The firm provides services to the aviation industry that include operations analysis, safety management, economic and business strategy, systems engineering, enterprise architecture, organizational and management consulting, portfolio management, policy and regulatory analysis, and environmental impact assessments.

“The aviation industry is facing a wholesale transformation of its infrastructure, business, and operating models,” Legan says. “Booz Allen is committed to delivering objective, insightful, and data-driven consulting support, and helping clients implement reliable approaches to manage their complex systems engineering and integration challenges.”

The Best Consulting Firm award is based upon interviews with over 400 air traffic professionals worldwide who completed an extensive survey indicating the firms that best support the highly competitive air traffic management industry in various categories.

Air Traffic Management covers topics from space-based air traffic management to the development of precision-landing systems. Its broad readership includes representatives from the airlines, air traffic controllers, aerospace/avionics manufacturers, government agencies, and consultancies.

A Century of Experience in Transportation Consulting

Booz Allen is also leveraging its systems engineering & integration (SE&I) capabilities to address the goals of the U.S. and its Next-Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen), and the analogous goals of the Single European Skies (SES) initiative in Europe.

Says Legan. “The complexity of NextGen and SES requires an approach that considers all facets of systems development and implementation. Technology is typically the most obvious area to address, while processes, policies, and people issues can be the most vexing.”

One example of the firm’s numerous ANSP projects in the U.S. supports the Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO). Senior associate and JPDO program manager Robbie Leftwich notes, “Booz Allen is providing systems engineering, enterprise architecture, and business analysis support for the JPDO to achieve operational transformation of our nation’s air transportation system and meet growing air travel demands and safety challenges.”

Enacted by Congress in 2003, the JPDO coordinates the efforts of the Departments of Transportation, Defense, Homeland Security, and Commerce, as well as the FAA, NASA, and White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, to plan and develop the NextGen. Booz Allen delivered to the JPDO the NextGen concept of operation, enterprise architecture, and business case for developing and implementing new technologies and policies essential to meeting its objectives.

Booz Allen also supports the FAA Air Traffic Organization (ATO) with the largest organizational restructuring and transformation in the agency’s history. “We’re providing business process reengineering, management consulting, and business strategy and analysis to help the FAA meet its service delivery and performance goals,” says senior associate Dave Davis, program manager for this engagement.

For another project with the FAA, the firm is developing and implementing a systems approach to safety oversight (SASO) with the FAA Flight Standards organization. Senior associate Jackie Duley is SASO program manger: “This support includes the reengineering of safety management processes, workforce training and preparation, and change management initiatives to institutionalize a comprehensive, risk-based approach to aviation safety. The SASO program provides FAA oversight of airlines, maintenance, avionics, and training, and incorporates system safety principles.”

Vice president Gary Schulman underscores the value of these accomplishments in the context of the broader global transportation network: “Our contributions in helping clients advance the safety and efficiency of aviation and air traffic management are an important step toward achieving integrated mobility solutions across transportation modes. Booz Allen's work with aviation clients across the globe—as well as clients in the rail and mass transit industries—offer the necessary insights and understanding to achieve systems integration on an enterprise level.”

story posted December 19, 2007

Additional Information:

Learn more about Booz Allen's transportation sevice offerings