PANOSSIAN CONSULTING
TAILORED AEROSPACE CONSULTING
Areas of Expertise
Mechanical & Avionics Solutions
These are the most important choices made by operators in terms of Direct Operating Costs and as such there is no room for error.
Company / Business Segment Valuations
We are seeing a continued trend towards industry consolidation. At the same time though we are also seeing more and more ‘spins’.
Asset Management & Per Hour / Per Landing Services
Aircraft OEMs are now aggressively pursuing the services sector and as such what was already a crowded space just got a lot more challenging.
Product Support Agreement Claims
Though product support claims are nothing new, with the Aircraft OEMs now part of the services sector the landscape has changed significantly.
MRO Solutions
Even though many maintenance agreements are moving to per hour models, case-by-case MRO needs will still exist for a good while.
Program Management & Contracts
As large Equipment OEMs keep growing, the smaller and lower tier OEMs are finding themselves in an increasingly challenging situation.
Mechanical and avionics selections
Whether you are faced with an APU, Avionics Suite, Engine or Wheel & Brake selection or even a combination thereof, we are here to help. Our intimate knowledge of the selection processes and more importantly our comprehensive experience with evaluating total lifecycle costs using our unique proprietary pricing models can help not only with the selection itself but also with ensuring you extract maximum value. We have been involved in some of the largest selections in terms of overall value in recent years and we have actually created and introduced new pricing structures and service models driven by unique customer needs.
Every selection is unique and in our humble opinion, Equipment OEMs do not cater for the unique specificities but rather simply apply their standard bureaucratic approval processes to come up with a standard offering. Needless to say, this means there is a lot more value to be extracted and that is where we come in. We can accurately quantify that value; we know exactly where it lies and above all we know how to extract it for our customers.
Company And Business Segment Valuations
As more of the large Tier 1 & 2 OEMs of the industry continue down the path of consolidation we are living in the ‘Golden Age of Aerospace M&A’ if you will. Interestingly enough concurrently we are also seeing several spin-offs as company’s try to focus more solely on their core businesses and parting ways with whatever is not considered as being core.
The valuations that form the basis of these deals are mostly conducted by large investment banking firms accompanying the large conglomerates through the process for a not so nominal fee of course. They are almost entirely based on well-established models using multiples and which arguably work well for public companies. We neither have the infrastructure nor the interest to be involved with these deals.
Where we come into play is when the valuation involves either a non-public company or a segment of a business or even a specific site for that matter. In all these cases multiples either don’t exist or can’t be reliably used. The methodology we have developed involves proprietary models to calculate a representative and defendable Enterprise Value. More importantly what makes us unique is that we actually spend most of our time refining our inputs to the models based on all available data as well as our industry experience and intelligence.
Asset Management & Per Hour / Per Landing Services
In recent years and in no small part due to the emergence of the Low-Cost Carriers there has been a distinct shift towards maintenance models allowing maximum maintenance cost predictability up front. It is therefore no surprise that models based on hourly utilization or events such as landings coupled with asset management have gained traction and are now almost the norm.
Nevertheless, and despite the relative mathematical simplicity of these models there still exists a distinct lack of basic understanding in the industry which is predominantly driven by Equipment OEMs who have desperately tried to hang on to extremely high margins they were used to while selling spares at exorbitant prices. This has resulted in the fact that most such services from OEMs are over-priced as the basis of the pricing rationale remains matching the margins they would have made if they were still selling spares. But those days are long gone.
We have over a decade of experience with such models which has allowed us to develop proprietary pricing models that allow us to evaluate these deals on a case by case basis irrespective of scope of coverage. In addition, we don’t just determine what the market price should be but we also accompany our customers throughout the negotiations and until contract signature.
Product Support Agreement Claims
Historically product support agreements were established to provide certain assurances to operators in terms of performance and in particular guarantees on product reliability and maintenance costs. These 3-party agreements between Aircraft and Equipment OEMs and airline operators have never been simple or straightforward with often supplemental bilateral agreements signed concurrently on the side between Aircraft and Equipment OEMs.
Despite the inherent by-design complexity incorporated in these agreements in the past, things are actually getting even more complicated now that Aircraft OEMs are actively playing in the services sector. We are therefore finding ourselves in situations whereby operators may be eligible to exert claims to the service provider who happens to be the Aircraft OEM and this is truly unchartered territory.
The issue at hand is that both Equipment OEMs and more importantly now the Aircraft OEMs can afford to throw teams of resources whose sole purpose is to challenge legitimate operator claims and this is exactly what is transpiring.
Based on our experience in this domain which dates back to the basic GCP days we can assist you in navigating these unchartered waters successfully and in doing so ensuring that you get what you rightfully deserve. In addition, based on our extensive experience most if not all of these claims are resolved by a mutual agreement that encompasses much more than just the root cause of the claim. As such we accompany our customers not just with creating a solid justification for the claims based on contractual rights but going beyond that we assist in establishing the overall broader negotiation strategy and accompany them to the end of the negotiations.
MRO Solutions
Given the diversity and the constantly changing fleet composition of operators there is a constant need for tailored case-by-case MRO solutions that allow the continued airworthiness of the subject aircraft and keep them up in the air flying rather than down on the ground. This is especially true for ageing legacy aircraft for which support options become more and more limited as time goes by.
Furthermore, there are still cases in which certain operators have a need to develop and maintain their own repair capabilities often times driven by geo-political constraints and associated local regulations.
With the large Equipment OEMs getting bigger and in parallel adopting strategies that limit channels and availability to parts and services catering for these needs is becoming increasingly more challenging every day.
Based on our experience in dealing with such unique cases as well as our knowledge of where to look for viable and reliable solutions we can happily assist you should you find yourself in this predicament.
Program Management & Contracts
In the current climate Aircraft OEMs and T1/T2 Equipment OEMs keep gaining in terms of bargaining power and this is happening at the expense of smaller T2/T3 OEMs as well as potential end customers.
We have extensive experience in managing and delivering some of the most complex development programs that came to fruition over the recent past. In addition, our experience in dealing with demanding Aircraft OEM contracts spans almost 2 decades, so we are here and happy to assist ‘the little guy’ who finds themselves squeezed between ‘a rock and a hard place’.
Worth to note that we firmly believe that innovation is most times driven by the ‘little guy’ and we are here to accompany and guide you through your journey, wherever that may take you.
From Aerospace To Your Space....
About Panossian Consulting.
My name is Varant Panossian and I am the founder and managing Director of Panossian C&T. Of Armenian origin, I was born in Lebanon, grew up on the sunny island of Cyprus before pursuing my university studies in the USA. I officially started my Aerospace career in Canada and have since had the good fortune to live and work in Germany, the UK, France and Switzerland. I spent two (2) decades with large US multi-national firms in roles of increasing responsibility across disciplines spanning from systems integration all the way to managing annual P&Ls of over $1B USD and enjoyed every moment. Nonetheless, there came a point in my career where I felt that a change was needed. It was one of those ‘now or never’ moments and being a person that always prefers to give it an honest go instead of living with the ‘what if I had’ questions, I decided to leave the corporate world and launch Panossian C&T. I have learned a lot from Corporate America and for that I will be eternally grateful but I now need to follow my own destiny and in doing so I would like to share as much as possible of what I was fortunate enough to be exposed to over the past two (2) decades with our future customers. Aerospace has been a passion of mine ever since I can remember so I sincerely hope that I can get as many opportunities as possible to continue sharing this passion with other like-minded piers and customers for the overall good of our industry.