Aviation Ground Operations Consulting
36 years of pattern recognition across the global ground handling industry — from a perspective you only get by working on both sides.
Most advisors draw on experience at a single operator or airline. USS AviationConsulting is built on something different: 36 years at the center of the global ground handling software market, working directly with airlines, airports, and ground handlers across every operational area — resource management, turnaround control, OCC, and beyond.
That means pattern recognition across the whole industry, not one organization's experience turned into generic advice.
100s
of airport operations worked with directly, large hub to regional
Global
ground handling service providers, from majors to small independents
36 yrs
building the product that became a global market leader in ground handling resource management
Most
major airlines & ground handling service providers engaged across network and operational functions
What This Means in Practice
When a ground handler in your position describes a resource utilization problem, a rollout that didn't stick, or a gap between planning and execution — chances are USS AviationConsulting has seen the same pattern before, in a comparable organization, more than once. That cross-industry view is rare. It comes from experience that extends well beyond any single carrier or handful of operations.
Where This Background Is Most Relevant
Advisory is most valuable where the problem isn't unique to your organization and you lack visibility into how others have solved it.
Digital Investment
"We bought the system. The results haven't followed."
The gap between what ground handling software promises and what it delivers in practice is one of the most common patterns in the industry. Understanding why — across dozens of rollouts at comparable organizations — is more useful than generic change management advice.
Vendor & Roadmap Decisions
"We need to evaluate our current system, or decide what comes next."
Vendor selection, roadmap validation, and build-vs-buy decisions are high-stakes with few independent reference points. Deep familiarity with the market, the major players, and their actual operational fit is a significant advantage here.
Resource Management
"Our planning looks right on paper. Execution tells a different story."
Resource management across ramp, equipment, and staffing is where most ground handling operations lose efficiency without a clear diagnostic. Having built the systems that model this, and seen where they break against operational reality, creates a unique diagnostic perspective.
Operational Strategy
"How are other handlers structuring this? We don't know what good looks like."
Benchmarking against the market is hard when you're inside a single organization. A 36-year cross-industry view of how different-sized ground handlers approach operational control, shift architecture, and turn management provides genuine external benchmarks.
You leave with an independent, cross-market perspective on your current platform, and a clearer basis for whatever decision comes next.
How USS AviationConsulting Works
Defined engagements, not open-ended mandates. The most persistent challenge in ground handling is not a lack of effort — it's the gap between how operations are designed and how they perform under real conditions. USS AviationConsulting works directly with you to close that gap.
Step 1
Review
2–4 weeks (on-site or remote)
Independent assessment of current or planned digital investments, evaluated against how comparable ground handling organizations have approached the same decisions — and what the common failure points are.
Delivered as a written assessment with prioritized recommendations and a clear decision framework.
Step 2
Diagnostic
2–5 weeks (on-site + remote)
Review of resource management, turn performance, and operational data usage — identifying gaps between what the plan assumes and what actually happens on the ground, and where digital tools are and aren't contributing.
Delivered as a structured gap analysis with benchmark data and an actionable improvement roadmap.
Step 3
Workshop
1–2 days (on-site)
Targeted sessions for leadership teams on digital strategy, operational benchmarking, or transformation direction, structured around what similar organizations have tried, what worked, and what didn't.
You leave with documented outcomes, aligned priorities, and concrete next steps.
Step 4
Advisory
Monthly retainer (6-month minimum)
Ongoing strategic counsel for Managing Directors, COOs, and senior leaders navigating digital decisions, vendor relationships, or operational strategy. Scheduled touchpoints with a single senior expert — no overhead, no delegation.
Includes structured session notes and a running decision log after each touchpoint.
"She brought a perspective we simply didn't have internally — she'd seen our exact problem at other operations and knew which solutions actually worked."
COO, European Ground Handler
Most vendors sell software. Some understand operations. Very few have spent 36 years at the intersection of both — building the systems, watching where they succeed, and learning precisely where and why they fail.
That perspective is what USS AviationConsulting brings to solution providers: not a theory of how ground handling should work, but direct pattern recognition from hundreds of real deployments across airlines, airports, and ground handlers worldwide.
36 yrs
building the resource management platform that became a global market leader in aviation
Most
major airlines and ground handling service providers engaged as customers or prospects
100s
of airport operations observed first-hand, from large hub to regional
Global
deployments across Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East, and Americas
What This Means for You
When your customers struggle with adoption, when deals stall at the RFP stage, or when your AI roadmap faces skepticism — in most cases, the root cause isn't your technology. It's a misalignment between what your product assumes about operations and how those operations actually run. That misalignment is invisible from the vendor side. You only see it after spending decades on both.
Where This Background Is Most Relevant
The problems below are rarely solved by better engineering. They require understanding how operators actually evaluate, adopt, and abandon systems.
Implementation & Adoption
"We've gone live. The efficiency gains haven't materialised."
Post-go-live efficiency gaps typically stem from configuration and process design rather than technology issues. Understanding why operators resist or work around your system — from 36 years of watching exactly this — changes how you diagnose and solve these problems.
System Selection & Roadmap
"We need to evaluate whether our current platform can scale with us."
Your customers are evaluating you against competitors you may not fully understand. Deep familiarity with the competitive landscape, how comparable organizations make these decisions, and what actually drives switching gives you a strategic advantage in positioning.
Resource Optimisation
"Our schedules optimise on paper. The ramp tells a different story."
The disconnect between optimization logic and actual ramp operations is one of the most common failure points in ground handling software. Identifying where your model assumptions diverge from operational reality — before your customer does — protects both the relationship and your revenue.
Digital Strategy & AI
"How are airlines and handlers structuring their operational data layer?"
Your AI roadmap is under scrutiny — from your board, your customers, and your own product team. Ground your strategy in real operational use cases, informed by cross-carrier data integration experience. That builds the kind of credibility generic AI messaging never will.
Service Offerings
Engagements designed for product leaders, commercial teams, and C-level executives at aviation technology companies. Every format delivers actionable output — not open-ended advisory.
Step 1
Diagnostic
2–5 weeks (on-site + remote)
Real-world performance gap analysis identifying where operational reality diverges from product assumptions. Why your customers aren't using features that should be driving value.
Delivered as a structured gap analysis with prioritized product and process recommendations.
Step 2
Advisory
Monthly retainer (6-month minimum)
Ongoing senior guidance for product and commercial leaders on roadmap-to-customer experience alignment. Structured touchpoints with a single expert — no junior delegation.
Includes structured session notes and a running decision log after each touchpoint.
Step 3
Review
2–4 weeks (on-site or remote)
AI readiness and integration assessment evaluating genuine AI applications within existing architectures. Separating real operational value from hype — before your customers do.
Delivered as a written assessment with technical feasibility mapping and a prioritized use-case roadmap.
Step 4
Workshop
1–2 days (on-site)
Product leadership sessions addressing operational performance gaps and AI/data strategy priorities. You leave with documented outcomes and aligned next steps.
You leave with documented outcomes, aligned priorities, and concrete next steps.
"Within weeks of the diagnostic, we identified adoption gaps we'd missed for two years. The cross-industry benchmark data was something no internal review could have produced."
VP Product, Aviation Technology Provider
What Makes This Different
Pattern Recognition
Extensive observation across multiple operations, not one organization's experience turned into generic advice.
Dual Perspective
Experience on both vendor and operator sides — understanding how software is built and how it's actually used under pressure.
Independent Analysis
No vendor relationships or implementation revenue interests. Advice is aligned with your outcomes, not a product roadmap.
Direct Engagement
Solo expert model — no junior team rotation. You work directly with 36 years of experience, every session.
Cultural Competency
International background with a multilingual perspective, working across European, Middle Eastern, and Asia-Pacific operations.
Let's talk.
30 minutes, no pitch, no commitment. Pick a time that works for you.
Calendly scheduling will be available here once the booking link is configured.
Prefer to write? uschi.schulte-sasse@uss-avcon.com
Upcoming Conferences
Want to connect at a conference? Let me know — I'm always happy to meet in person.