Here's how you can deliver airline projects successfully within budget and timeline constraints.

To successfully deliver airline projects within budget and on time, it is essential to be proactive, particularly when working in developing countries like Nigeria, which have complex bureaucratic processes. Furthermore, it is crucial to educate all stakeholders about the project, ensuring their understanding and buy-in by highlighting the project's importance and long-term financial benefits for them.

Specific for airline industry is importance of involving stakeholders across all departments to take part in advancing with a project. As example, installation of a new shipset of seats may concern departments from CAMO to cabin safety to commercial to ground ops.

Transparency in the management of a project is key, where all parties involved will define what can be achieved within the proposed timeframe. Promises will not work and will lead to frustration along the line.

Communication is the key to success in any business. Aligning and setting realistic goals, with the various stakeholders and groups is critical in project management. When roadblocks hinder projects, come up with solutions as a team that work for the group and overall goal, never working in silo. Being a servant leader and entrusting your team while supporting them to forge ahead in the project. Team work and Communication!

For your project to reach cruising altitude, developing a realistic plan is your flight map. Start by charting a detailed timeline, marking every task and milestone. Ground your plan in the realities of airline operations, keeping an eye on resources, regulations, and potential turbulence. Don’t forget to add buffer times for those unexpected delays. A well-prepared plan that anticipates bumps along the way ensures you can navigate challenges smoothly, keeping your project on course toward its strategic goals. With this approach, you’ll be ready to adapt and soar without losing sight of your destination.

In my experience, I've seen a lot of massive projects sputter and stumble because they took on too much scope without delivering small wins along the way. It's difficult to replace an aging legacy system successfully in a short amount of time. The sponsors need to be realistic and bought in that there have to be incremental steps along the way that build to this huge systematic change. And there will be bumps along the way, changed requirements and a lot of angst from the users the first 30 days.

I find it helpful to use a project management tool. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a heavy-duty one like Microsoft Project, as most projects are not that complex. As long as the tool ensures accountability for everyone involved, it is sufficient.

Think of your project as a high-stakes flight where continuous monitoring is your radar. Use project management tools to track every detail and hold regular status meetings to check the flight path. This vigilance lets you spot turbulence early and make adjustments before minor issues become major disruptions. Keeping a close eye on progress ensures everyone stays accountable and focused on the final destination. With proactive monitoring, your project will glide smoothly, staying within budget and on time

While all of us would love to have a crystal ball to avoid any risks, in reality, we have to manage somewhere between nothing and Chicken Little. Listen to the people in the project who have their lens of what could happen and document it. Nothing is worse than hearing a potential problem, brushing it off only to have that one thing happen. Catching a problem before it becomes one helps to keep the project moving along while still managing the impact.

An example that I have seen is that in larger organisations, the silos need addressing. With new projects the functionality it brings must be embraced and injested to the best value.

Besides the other elements, I think understanding the inner dependencies of your project and where it sits with the overall strategies of the organization, as well as the impact it delivers to the organization, is very important. Having a powerful sponsor with influence and that is tied to the success of the project helps to mitigate the conflict that any meaningful project will encounter at any Airline. Gaining alignment and support with the key stakeholders at the beginning, gives you the best chance of delivering on time and on budget… Communicate!Communicate!Communicate!

Regulatory Requirements: Ensure the project complies with all relevant aviation regulations and standards. Regular Audits: Conduct regular audits to ensure ongoing compliance.

Actually I am quiet sure it greatly depends on an internal IT provider vis-a-vis an external vendor. That makes a lot of difference on both, the budget and the time line.

Very succinct overview of a well structured project - structure for success is assured when communication channels have shared ambitions.