Jaap, a senior knowledge expert based in Amsterdam, joined McKinsey in 2004. He has two decades of experience in the firm’s global Travel, Logistics & Infrastructure Practice, where he specializes in aviation. He supports a diverse range of clients across the aviation industry—including airlines, airports, ground handlers, and investors—advising on everything from commercial topics to market analysis and strategy. He has helped several major airlines to define their network strategies, achieve large-scale transformations, and stress-test and implement turnround strategies. Jaap also leads McKinsey’s European aviation research.
Examples of Jaap’s recent client experience include the following:
- helping a North American network carrier define its network strategy, and, in a subsequent phase, its network partnership model
- working with an industry association to assess the airline industry’s value creation over time compared to other subsectors in the aviation value chain
- supporting an airline alliance in its strategic scenario analysis, including quality of service index (QSI) modeling to quantify the network value at stake from carriers joining or exiting the alliance
- developing a turnaround strategy for a Middle Eastern carrier, including a comprehensive diagnostic on its network, pricing, and revenue management to uncover improvement potential
- serving a European airport on its growth strategy, which involved testing the potential for its home carrier to evolve into a hub-and-spoke network model, assessing the traffic potential this could create, and defining the steps needed to realize it
- working with a major European network carrier group to define its ten-year strategy
- supporting a low-cost carrier to stress-test its turnaround plan, find additional improvement potential, and develop a transformation roadmap
- helping a large airline review its fleet portfolio, assess alternative procurement concepts such as buying preowned aircraft, and identify areas for debt reduction and value-based KPI improvements
- helping a major European airline assess a possible strategic partnership with another carrier, including market assessment, cooperation models, and expected benefits
- working with a major African carrier on a comprehensive review of its strategy and competitive position