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Emma Loxton

PartnerLondon

Emma Loxton

PartnerLondon

Works with companies across the travel and defense industries to build and deliver strategies and improve commercial performance

Emma helps clients across the travel industry (including airlines, car-rental agencies, and travel agents) to build strategies, improve commercial functions, and manage mergers. She has served transport, infrastructure, and defense companies globally on strategic and organizational issues.

Much of Emma’s work involves advising senior executives at travel companies across a range of strategic, organizational, operational, and financial issues. Most recently, she has guided travel companies on developing successful digital customer propositions.

Examples of Emma’s recent client projects include the following:

  • designing pricing optimization with a tour operator to optimize yield across flight and holiday mix and drive transformation through the commercial team, realizing an uplift of about 3 percent
  • developing a strategy for a major European airline, identifying growth opportunities and trade-offs to drive an approximately $220 million increase in profit
  • managing the transformation of a European road fleet and designing a series of pilots to improve business operations and deliver approximately $90 million in bottom-line improvement
  • leading a strategic review for a Southeast Asian airline, identifying opportunities to return to long-term profitability and positive cash flow over 3 to 5 years
  • defining a strategic review of a Latin American airline, assessing network options for margin growth and delivering an incremental 30 to 40 percent of margin
  • leading a cost investigation to support a multimillion-dollar defense procurement program and to identify a 15 to 20 percent savings opportunity

Before joining McKinsey, Emma worked for the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit within the UK government, providing strategic policy advice to 10 Downing Street.

Published work

Rolls-Royce in transformation: An interview with Nikki Grady-Smith,” McKinsey & Company, September 2024

Aircraft MRO 2.0: The digital revolution,” McKinsey & Company, July 2024

Addressing continued turbulence: The commercial-aerospace supply chain,” McKinsey & Company, April 2024

Travel Disruptors: Capturing B2B growth,” McKinsey & Company, January 2024

Built to last: Making sustainability a priority in transport infrastructure,” McKinsey & Company, October 2021

Education

University of Oxford
MA, philosophy, politics, and economics