Success StoriesApplication Rationalization for the World’s Largest Airline
Leading airline offering 6,700 flights per day to ~350 destinations across 50+ countries
Business Need
Objectives Driving Transformation
Following a large-scale merger, the world’s largest airline launched a top-five enterprise IT initiative to rationalize applications across two legacy organizations. The objective was to identify which systems should be retained, consolidated, or retired to create a unified operational platform supporting business, flight, and enterprise data. Leadership required consolidated business requirements, improved integration across core systems, and a clear roadmap to eliminate inefficiencies while reducing long-term technology spend.
- Establish continuity across applications inherited from both legacy organizations
- Consolidate and rationalize business requirements for operational optimization
- Determine which applications to retain, integrate, or retire
- Deliver unified functionality across business, operations, and flight systems
- Reduce cost and complexity through application consolidation
Rationalize and integrate legacy applications following a major merger to ensure operational continuity, eliminate redundancy, and enable a unified enterprise platform.
Challenge
Barriers to Progress
Application access and functionality were siloed across legacy environments, preventing teams from operating seamlessly across the merged organization. Many processes lacked formal documentation, and differing technology stacks required detailed analysis and updated business requirements documentation. The initiative demanded deep airline domain expertise to navigate operational dependencies, while extensive QA testing was necessary to mitigate risk across mission-critical systems.
- Restricted application access limited to legacy organizational boundaries
- 1,420 total applications requiring evaluation and reconciliation
- Undocumented processes and inconsistent operational forms
- Divergent technology stacks requiring detailed analysis and updated BRDs
- Multiple technology and business capability gaps
- Extensive QA testing across operationally critical systems
- Need for specialized airline domain and technical expertise
Solution & Results
What Paradigm Enabled
Paradigm rapidly assembled a team of more than 20 airline domain experts – including program managers, business analysts, Agile PMs, and Scrum Masters – to lead application reconciliation and integration. The team evaluated and rationalized application portfolios, managed cross-functional workstreams, and provided structured governance through weekly executive reporting. Application access was restored and standardized across the merged organization, enabling seamless operations while aligning future-state technology strategy with business priorities.
- 1,253 of 1,420 applications reconciled (88.2%)
- 20,000 users enabled with cross-organizational application access
- Enterprise-wide program governance with weekly executive status reporting
- Stabilized operational continuity during post-merger integration
- Established foundation for ongoing Flight Operations Integration initiatives
The airline now operates with a rationalized application portfolio and unified access model that supports operational efficiency, reduces technology redundancy, and enables scalable integration across future enterprise initiatives.
88%
Of applications reconciled
20,000
Users enabled