A comprehensive guide to automate real estate portfolio management, capital projects, and facility maintenance for the airline industry

Key business priorities for airline growth and efficiency

In a highly competitive and volatile industry, airlines are under continuous pressure to grow while maintaining lean, resilient operations. With tight profit margins, rising operating costs, and constant global disruptions, sustainable success requires aligning strategic priorities with operational agility and asset intelligence. Airlines must focus on a set of priorities that balance long-term growth with real-time performance optimization, where IWMS capabilities can play a pivotal role. 

Navigating volatility and building resilience. Airlines operate in an environment shaped by frequent external shocks, from geopolitical tensions and public health crises to supply chain disruptions and fluctuating fuel prices. Events like suspended operations in conflict zones or sudden shifts in travel demand during pandemics reveal that turbulence is an inherent part of the aviation industry and highlight the need for agility and scenario-based planning. To stay resilient, airlines need more than contingency plans; they need real-time visibility and control over their asset portfolio. A unified view of fleets, facilities, maintenance hubs, and leased spaces enables airlines to assess scenarios, reallocate resources quickly, and ensure operational continuity. By centralizing data and automating insights, airline teams can respond to disruptions with agility and make informed, cost-efficient decisions. 

Managing profitability under pressure. Even in strong years, airlines operate with razor-thin profit margins, typically under 5%. Intense competition, complex regulations, and high fixed costs (including fuel, labor, aircraft leases) make profitability a constant challenge. To stay financially viable, airlines must focus on improving yield, increasing load factors, and optimizing cost per available seat kilometer (CASK). Strategic revenue management alongside targeted ancillary services empowers airlines to maximize returns on every flight and strengthen financial resilience. 

Intense competition. Competition in the airline industry is relentless, with carriers constantly adjusting fares, routes, and capacity to protect market share. Low-cost operators continue to challenge traditional models, while global alliances and partnerships redefine route economics. In this environment, strategic differentiation depends on operational intelligence. From optimizing gate utilization and maintenance turnaround to reallocating leased spaces and support facilities, integrated workspace management systems help airlines stay agile and competitive in real time. 

Driving operational efficiency through digital transformation. Managing complex, capital-intensive assets is critical to controlling costs and ensuring service reliability. Capital-intensive assets such as aircraft, maintenance infrastructure, and leased facilities demand coordinated lifecycle planning. Airlines need to track leases, maintenance schedules, space usage, and compliance deadlines, minimizing downtime and preventing costly disruptions. Airlines are increasingly adopting intelligent systems that unify data across departments into a single source of truth. Those leveraging automation for maintenance, lease abstraction, and asset forecasting are better positioned to control costs, optimize resources, and improve service reliability. Predictive maintenance, AI-powered crew scheduling, automated passenger handling, and integrated lease and facility management platforms all contribute to faster, better-informed decisions—ultimately improving asset utilization, reducing downtime, and enhancing the overall passenger experience. 

Prioritizing fleet modernization and cost control. Modern aircraft offer better fuel efficiency, lower emissions, and reduced maintenance costs, making fleet renewal a proven strategy for improving performance and sustainability. However, optimizing the broader asset portfolio is equally critical. Airlines must evaluate total cost of ownership, manage contract terms, and make data-driven decisions about leasing versus owning infrastructure—ensuring that every capital investment aligns with long-term operational and financial goals. 

Enabling network agility and demand-based planning. With fluctuating demand and frequent route changes, agility in space and asset deployment is essential. Airlines are moving away from rigid schedules and instead use real-time data and AI to dynamically scale support facilities (e.g., ground operations, maintenance hangars, or crew housing), repurpose spaces, and consolidate assets based on shifting demand patterns. This approach reduces overhead while enabling faster, more effective responses to external events. 

Enhancing customer experience and loyalty retention. As passenger expectations rise, airlines must deliver seamless, personalized experiences across every touchpoint. Satisfaction increasingly hinges on the quality of physical environments, from lounges and gates to boarding processes. Optimizing passenger-facing spaces by tracking usage, maintenance needs, and service delivery across airport properties ensures that investments in customer experience are both effective and efficient. Meanwhile, enhanced loyalty programs, flexible booking policies, and premium service tiers strengthen trust while unlocking new revenue opportunities. 

Integrating sustainability and compliance as long-term strategies. As industry embraces sustainability, airlines are accelerating their investments in sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and eco-efficient aircraft. They must also monitor energy usage across facilities, track sustainability KPIs, and support carbon reporting. Built-in compliance tracking ensures alignment with ESG commitments and helps airlines stay ahead of evolving environmental regulations. Meeting these standards isn’t just about compliance; it strengthens long-term brand reputation and builds investor confidence. 

Strengthening safety and security across operations. Safety remains the cornerstone of aviation, and in an era of heightened cyber threats, geopolitical tensions, and complex global operations, it extends far beyond physical maintenance. Airlines must ensure not only the safety of passengers and crews but also the integrity of digital systems, facilities, and assets. Modern IWMS platforms can support this by improving visibility into safety-critical infrastructure, ensuring timely maintenance compliance, and centralizing incident tracking and reporting. Combined with integrated data and automated alerts, these capabilities help reduce risks, enforce regulatory adherence, and enhance both physical and cyber resilience across the airline’s network. 

In an industry defined by high risk and tight margins, sustainable growth for airlines hinges on making smarter, faster decisions. Effective asset management, backed by accurate data, real-time visibility, and proactive planning, is key to controlling costs and maintaining operational agility. As airlines accelerate their digital transformation, integrating systems and automating key processes across the asset lifecycle enables real-time operational agility, data-driven decision-making, and enhanced visibility across their global portfolio. The airlines that prioritize adaptability, innovation, and data-driven strategy will be best equipped to navigate uncertainty and capture long-term value. 

Asset types in the airline industry

Following the deregulation of the airline industry in 1980s in the United States, airlines began to shift away from owning assets and started relying more heavily on leased portfolios. This trend later expanded across the globe, driven by the need for fleet flexibility, lower upfront costs, and more agile responses to market demand. Today, both in the U.S. and around the world, airlines operate with a diverse mix of assets: from aircraft and terminal gates to catering equipment and ground vehicles, all sourced through a combination of ownership and leasing arrangements.  

Managing this complex asset landscape requires robust processes that account for varying asset classes, contractual terms, and operational interdependencies. 

Let’s take a closer look at the main asset types in the airline industry. 

Real estate assets

Real estate assets in the airline industry can be classified into on-terminal and off-terminal spaces. Below are examples of each: 

On-terminal spaces: 

1. Airport terminals. The core infrastructure of any airport. Airlines typically lease space within terminals for check-in desks, boarding gates, passenger lounges, security and baggage handling areas, and operational offices. 
2. Airport parking lots. Airlines may lease parking areas as part of passenger service offerings or employee convenience.  

Off-terminal spaces: 

1. Cargo facilities. Warehousing and logistics hubs that are used for freight operations and are typically located near the airport but outside the terminal. Airlines may lease or own large spaces for loading, unloading, and storing cargo. 
2. Maintenance hangars. Critical for aircraft MRO (maintenance, repair, and overhaul), these hangars are located off-terminal but often on airport-owned land. They are essential for keeping aircraft in good condition and ensuring safety standards. 
3. Office buildings. Airlines may own or lease administrative buildings for departments like HR, IT, finance, and marketing, often close to the airport but not in terminal areas.  
4. Airport support and maintenance buildings. Infrastructure for maintaining runways, lighting systems, and terminal equipment, often owned by the airport and leased to airlines and service providers.

Fleet assets

Fleet assets are the most capital-intensive and strategically significant resources in the airline industry. They directly impact operational capacity, route flexibility, and long-term profitability. Fleet assets encompass aircraft, engines, onboard systems, and specialized components, acquired through a mix of ownership and leasing. 

Leasing plays a central role in airline fleet strategy. As of 2024, the majority of global aircraft are leased. Leasing offers flexibility to scale operations and optimize fleets without heavy upfront investment. This is especially valuable in an industry where demand is cyclical and affected by factors like fuel prices, seasonality, and global events. 

Airlines primarily use two leasing models: 

• Dry leases. Aircraft that is leased without crew, maintenance, or insurance. Commonly used by full-service and budget carriers, these long-term arrangements (2 to 12 years) can be structured as:  
  • Finance leases, where the ownership transfers at the end  
  • Operating leases, where the lessor retains ownership. 
• Wet leases. Aircraft, crew, maintenance, and insurance (ACMI) are included.  Wet leases are typically short-term (1 to 24 months), used quickly to meet demand surges or cover operational shortfalls. 

While leasing offers agility, many airlines still own part of their fleets, especially aircraft deployed on high-yield, long-haul routes. Ownership provides more control over customization, asset lifecycle management, and long-term value retention, especially when financed under favorable terms. 

In addition to aircraft, fleet assets include: 

• Engines. Spare engines are leased to reduce downtime and maintain continuity. 
• Specialized components. Auxiliary power units (APUs), avionics, and other subsystems are often leased separately to lower upfront costs or support specific aircraft models. 
• Other parts and systems. Landing gear, interior fittings, and communication systems are often leased as standalone items or bundled within maintenance agreements. 

Equipment assets 

Operational equipment ensures smooth day-to-day flight and airport operations. These include: 

• Ground support equipment (GSE). Items like baggage handling systems, pushback tractors, and belt loaders. Leasing helps reduce capital expenditure while maintaining flexibility. 
• Maintenance tools. Specialized systems for aircraft inspections and repairs, often leased to align costs with usage. 
• Catering equipment. Trolleys, ovens, and storage units used for in-flight services, often leased to meet varying passenger needs and support seasonal demand.

Understanding the nature, lifecycle, and contractual terms of both leased and owned equipment is vital for not only for ensuring efficiency, regulatory compliance, and cost control, but also for supporting long-term growth and sustainability. A purpose-built IWMS solution enhances capital allocation, planning, and execution for upcoming projects, centralizes asset tracking, automates lease and depreciation management, and streamlines equipment transfers, all while ensuring regulatory compliance with standards such as IFRS 16 and ASC 842. 

How does IWMS software solve unique challenges for the airline industry in each step of asset lifecycle management?

The airline industry, with its complex infrastructure and heavily regulated environment, faces significant challenges throughout the asset lifecycle management. From strategic planning and capital project execution to lease negotiation, daily operations, and eventual renewal or termination, each stage requires careful coordination and data-driven decision-making.  

An Integrated Workplace Management System (IWMS) equips airlines with essential tools to manage every stage of the asset lifecycle. By centralizing data and automating key processes, IWMS solutions help carriers streamline operations, enhance visibility, and maximize asset value. Research shows that adopting an IWMS solution like Nakisa can reduce capital project costs by up to 45%, improve facility utilization by 40%, lower asset lifecycle costs by 35%, and enhance workspace management by 47%. 

In this section, we’ll examine the core phases of the asset lifecycle in the airline industry, the common challenges that arise, and how exactly a solution like Nakisa IWMS can help overcome them. 

Planning and finding

Capital projects are essential to the airline industry’s ability to operate efficiently, stay compliant, and grow sustainably. These projects include fleet acquisition and modernization, maintenance facility construction or upgrades, airport infrastructure improvements, digital transformation initiatives, and sustainability investments. Each of these large-scale initiatives involves significant investment and long-term planning.  

Given their impact on capacity, safety, and profitability, airlines must align their capital plans with broader business strategies, ensuring funding is secured, timelines are realistic, and plans are flexible enough to adapt to evolving market conditions.  

Let’s examine the key challenges airlines face when planning and overseeing capital projects and how Nakisa IWMS can help. 

Challenge 1: Managing financial forecasting, budget allocations, and cost control for capital projects

Capital projects in the airline industry demand precise financial planning to align with operational priorities and long-term strategic goals. Airlines must accurately forecast costs and outcomes, allocate budgets, and control spending, all while navigating through volatile fuel prices, shifting regulations, and resource constraints. The complexity increases for airlines operating across multiple regions, where infrastructure readiness, demand, and cost structures vary widely. 

Improving accuracy in financial forecasting and budget allocation

A common pitfall in capital project planning is misalignment among stakeholders and a lack of clear, data-driven financial analysis. Without reliable forecasting, investments in new aircraft, hangar builds, MRO facilities, or digital system upgrades can lead to budget overruns and reduced ROI.  

Before committing to any large-scale project, airlines must:  

• Align stakeholders around shared objectives 
• Estimate total lifecycle costs, including acquisition, leasing, operations, maintenance, and compliance 
• Consider external risk factors such as fuel price volatility, supply chain delays, emissions regulations, infrastructure readiness, labor costs, and shifting market demand 
• Model financial scenarios to assess risks and opportunities of each project

Given the long lead times and interdependencies of capital projects, avoiding budget overruns and missed opportunities requires agile scenario modeling that account for a wide range of market and operational variables and supports robust contingency planning. 

With accurate forecasting, airlines gain greater control over leasing and capital expenditures, across projects and geographies, empowering strategic investments in fleet expansion, modernization, and infrastructure, all while maintaining operational resilience. 

How Nakisa IWMS enhances financial forecasting and budget allocations for airlines

Nakisa IWMS, specifically its Capital Projects Suite, gives airline finance and project teams the tools to analyze financial scenarios, allocate realistic budgets, and maintain rigorous budgetary control across fleet investments and infrastructure initiatives. By integrating data from the current real estate and asset portfolio, upcoming capital projects, external market insights, and evolving industry trends, the suite provides an advanced level of data visibility, empowering airline to make informed decisions and allocate budgets based on real-time, dynamic conditions rather than static, historical assumptions. 

The platform leverages AI-driven analytics and automation to streamline financial viability assessments. It automatically calculates key metrics such as Net Present Value (NPV), Discounted Cash Flow (DCF), Return on Investment (ROI), and Break-Even Points. These calculations help airlines comprehensively evaluate the potential returns and risks of capital expenditures, from fleet expansion to facility upgrades and technology transformations. 

Nakisa IWMS supports detailed scenario modeling, allowing airlines to develop and compare multiple budget scenarios, from best-case to worst-case. Teams can easily adjust key variables, such as aircraft acquisition costs, fuel price fluctuations, compliance-related expenses, and projected passenger demand, to assess the financial impact of each scenario. The system also accommodates contract-specific modeling, including lease escalation clauses, route seasonality, and conditional savings or penalties. 

Creating multiple financial scenarios in Nakisa Capital Projects

AI-powered automation enables capital project managers to rapidly generate detailed project expenditure and assess how different assumptions affect project outcomes. This level of control and visibility allows airlines to allocate budgets more effectively, avoid cost overruns, and maintain alignment with long-term strategic goals. 

Seamless approval workflows are built in, promoting transparent collaboration between finance, project leaders, and executive stakeholders. Budget allocation requests, scenario reviews, and strategic signoffs are streamlined within the platform, reducing bottlenecks and enhancing governance.  

By utilizing unified data, intelligent automation, advanced analytics, and built-in approval workflows, Nakisa IWMS equips airlines to improve budget accuracy, adapt rapidly to market changes, and maintain strong financial oversight across all capital initiatives.

Optimizing budget tracking and cost control

Once a budget is approved and allocated, rigorous cost tracking becomes critical. Poor visibility into actual spending and outdated forecasts can lead to misaligned budgets, project delays, and reduced return on investment. To avoid these risks, airlines need to adopt robust analytics tools that track expenditures, support accurate forecasting, and flag issues early. Real-time monitoring, combined with automated alerts and spending controls, reinforces financial discipline and allows project teams to make timely, informed adjustments aligned with business goals. 

How Nakisa IWMS optimizes budget management and cost control 

Nakisa IWMS streamlines budget management with highly configurable, role-based workflows and a multi-level approval system that seamlessly aligns finance, operations, and senior leadership. Once budgets are approved, they can be allocated across capital projects, such as aircraft acquisition, MRO facility upgrades, and digital transformation initiatives, with support for multiple budget lines, allowing for flexible planning and precise tracking. 

Nakisa enables accurate cost management with real-time monitoring of budgeted versus actual expenditures, available in multiple currencies. Capital project managers can instantly review budget statuses, detect overruns, and ensure spending remains within approved limits. Built-in hard stops and automated alerts promptly notify the appropriate stakeholders when thresholds are exceeded, enabling quick intervention and better financial governance. With these tools, airlines can stay on top of their capital spending and make informed decisions that keep projects aligned with strategic and financial objectives. 

Easily manage capital project budgets and track the associated expenses in Nakisa Capital Projects (part of Nakisa IWMS)

Through real-time expense tracking and intuitive dashboards, capital project managers gain clear, actionable insights into financial performance across all projects. This is powered by Nakisa Decision Intelligence (NDI) — an AI-first decision platform that unifies, interprets, and analyzes vast internal and external data in real time. NDI enables managers to run forecasts and simulations, receive tailored expert guidance, and prompt the system in natural language to instantly generate dynamic financial reports and dashboards. They can also benchmark estimated budget allocations and rates against market standards, ensuring more informed and strategic decisions. By identifying potential risks and providing greater visibility across global capital project activities, NDI empowers organizations to optimize performance and ensure stronger financial control. 

Nakisa IWMS goes further by streamlining vendor and invoice management. External vendors and service providers can directly upload invoices to the platform, providing a centralized view that links budgeted amounts, contractual commitments, and actual invoiced costs. This unified approach enhances both financial accuracy and transparency. 

Nakisa supports comprehensive budget and cost management across both capital projects and operational areas such as leasing and facilities. The platform monitors a wide range of expenditures, from construction and  capital investments to lease-related payments (such as rent, taxes, insurance, and utilities) and facility maintenance activities (such as repairs and scheduled work orders), all intuitively organized by team and user role, ensuring stakeholders access the right information quickly and efficiently. 

Challenge 2: Prioritizing the best-fit capital projects

For airlines, identifying and prioritizing the best capital projects, along with finding their optimal locations, is essential to maximizing operational efficiency and long-term growth. A core challenge in airline capital projects is determining which locations to prioritize based on expected return, operational impact, and strategic alignment. 

However, capital projects are rarely straightforward. Airlines must navigate competing objectives such as fleet modernization, terminal upgrades, maintenance facility expansion, and sustainability initiatives, all while addressing rising passenger expectations and stricter environmental regulations. Location decisions, whether for terminals, hangars, or MRO facilities, carry high stakes. Poor site selection can lead to costly delays, compliance issues, and long-term operational inefficiencies. For instance, selecting an airport with difficult or expensive permitting processes can add years to project timelines, severely impacting profitability.  

Effective prioritization requires evaluating both projects and locations across multiple dimensions, including airport accessibility, market demand, infrastructure readiness, labor availability, regulatory environment, government incentives, and competitive landscape. Logistic factors such as route connectivity and expansion potential must also be considered, along with the expected impact on network capacity. This often involves modeling multiple scenarios, comparing different types of projects or the same project across various locations, and weighing trade-offs between short-term gains and long-term value.  

Unfortunately, the process is often hindered by fragmented data and siloed decision-making. Many airlines still rely on disconnected tools or outdated information, making it difficult to gain a holistic, real-time view of airport infrastructure, market trends, competitor movements, or local regulations, increasing the risk of investing in projects that underperform or overlooking higher-value opportunities elsewhere. Without integrated systems and real-time visibility, it becomes challenging to accurately evaluate project potential or adjust priorities as conditions change.  

How Nakisa IWMS supports capital project prioritization and site selection

Nakisa empowers airlines to systematically identify and prioritize capital projects and locations that best align with strategic business objectives. Key features include: 

• Centralized project and location repository: Nakisa consolidates all current and potential capital projects, featuring detailed site information, supporting documentation, configurable scorecards, and financial forecasts, all within a single platform. Project managers can visualize locations using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) integration and analyze surrounding infrastructure, connectivity, and demand factors. Flexible filters and dynamic dashboards streamline the exploration and direct comparison of multiple investment options. 
• Decision intelligence platform that goes beyond traditional analytics and reporting: Nakisa Decision Intelligence integrates and interprets multiple external and internal data sources, providing airlines with timely market intelligence and comparing their portfolio performance with market benchmarks. With natural language prompts, NDI runs multiple scenarios and forecasts to help airlines find the optimal-fit fleet and location options, giving tailored expert assistance in the matter of seconds.  
• Strategic alignment and scoring: Capital project managers can create customizable scorecards tailored to their airline’s unique goals, using KPIs such as airport capacity utilization, connectivity index, cost efficiency, and regulatory compliance. Projects and locations are evaluated side by side for a comprehensive metric breakdown, helping teams easily shortlist and prioritize the most promising initiatives.  The solution also offers financial viability analysis with metrics like Discounted Cash Flow (DCF), Net Present Value (NPV), Return on Investment (ROI), and Break-Even Point to evaluate the expected value of each project-location combination.  
• Seamless integration and operational efficiency: Once the optimal site is selected and the rent is signed, the asset can be automatically added to Nakisa IWMS, immediately connecting it to lease administration and facility management workflows. This unified process enhances long-term asset tracking, streamlines project execution, and supports ongoing success in managing airline real estate assets and capital investments. 

Compare up to 10 options side-by-side, evaluating their scores and financial analysis

Challenge 3: Capital project management for airlines

Capital project management is essential for airlines undertaking planning, financing, and executing large-scale initiatives such as fleet expansion, hangar construction, terminal upgrades, or digital infrastructure improvements. Earlier, we discussed the challenges related to financial forecasting, cost tracking, and selecting the right project and location, all critical components of capital planning. This section focuses specifically on the execution phase: managing timelines, teams, priorities, and deliverables. 

Managing project priorities, timelines, and milestones

Once priorities are established, executing projects adds another level of complexity. Airlines often manage multiple initiatives in parallel, each with distinct phases, interdependencies, and approval workflows. Projects such as airport lounge renovations, MRO facility upgrades, or digital system rollouts must follow strict schedules, often tied to regulatory deadlines, seasonal traffic peaks, or aircraft delivery windows. Coordinating across internal teams, contractors, and third-party vendors, often across multiple regions, further increases the challenge. 

Delays frequently stem from manual task tracking, communication breakdowns, missed handoffs, or underperforming vendors. Without centralized oversight and real-time updates, project managers can easily lose visibility into progress, leading to missed milestones and budget overruns. Keeping everything on track requires structured workflows, proactive risk management, and streamlined coordination. 

To deliver projects on time and within scope, airlines need tools that allow them to monitor progress in real time, coordinate tasks across teams, and keep stakeholders aligned throughout every phase. 

How Nakisa IWMS streamlines priority, timeline, and milestone management

Nakisa IWMS offers purpose-built tools for capital project planning and execution tailored to the unique operational needs of airlines. Project managers can define the purpose of each initiative, whether it's renovating secure airport zones under strict regulatory oversight, upgrading terminal fit-outs, or enhancing lounges. The platform allows assignment of priority levels, clear definition of project scope (ranging from full facility overhauls to equipment-specific changes), and configurable visibility settings for sensitive initiatives. 

Built-in functionality supports comprehensive milestone, approval, and deliverable tracking. Project managers can create projects with task lists, assign owners, set deadlines, and monitor progress using dynamic dashboards and Gantt charts. Automated notifications help keep key milestones on track, while role-based access facilitates smooth collaboration between internal teams and external vendors. 

To increase efficiency and standardization, Nakisa IWMS provides reusable project templates designed for different types of capital initiatives, such as hangar construction, terminal renovations, or aircraft refits. These templates are easily adaptable by region or business unit, minimizing manual effort and reducing the risk of overlooked tasks. This organized approach to task management and progress monitoring allows airlines to deliver capital projects on time and budget. 

Create and prioritize tasks, assign people, and stay on top of the deadlines with Nakisa.

Enhancing internal collaboration

Capital projects in the airline industry require close coordination across internal teams, such as design, construction, legal, and finance throughout complex, interdependent timelines that span planning, procurement, execution, and closeout phases.  

Without a unified system with built-in collaboration and approval workflows, project managers may struggle to keep teams aligned as deadlines shift and requirements evolve. This misalignment can lead to delayed tasks, missed milestones, and disruptions that affect operations, customer experience, and financial outcomes.  

As projects expand across regions, added complexity arises from time zone differences, language barriers, and varying regulatory standards. To stay on track, all internal stakeholders must have real-time access to updates, approvals, and financial data. 

How Nakisa optimizes cross-team coordination and streamlines project execution

Nakisa Capital Projects Suite fosters seamless collaboration by enabling team members to assign, track, and update tasks in real time. Responsibilities are clearly allocated to relevant teams or individuals, with deadlines and task dependencies explicitly defined. Automated notifications and alerts keep everyone informed about upcoming deadlines or schedule changes, ensuring critical steps are not missed. For example, if construction delays arise due to unforeseen circumstances, the system promptly alerts procurement and legal teams to adjust timelines or reallocate resources accordingly. 

To maintain momentum across all project phases, the platform offers integrated Gantt charts and timeline views that allow project managers to track progress from initial planning to project closeout. Project milestones and key performance indicators (KPIs) are clearly outlined, enabling quick identification of delays and potential bottlenecks. This level of visibility is especially crucial for high-stakes projects like airport terminal expansions, where on-time delivery is key to uninterrupted operations. When critical milestones are at risk, Nakisa flags these issues for immediate attention, enabling proactive problem-solving. 

Whether managing the complexities of a new runway development or coordinating a major fleet overhaul, Nakisa ensures that no detail is left behind. With tools tailored to airline capital projects, it empowers airline teams with the confidence, clarity, and control they need to execute successfully.

Enhancing external collaboration: contractors, advisors, landlords, suppliers, and more 

Managing a diverse set of vendors, contractors, advisors, landlords, and service providers across multiple capital projects is another challenge. Airlines often work with a wide range of external partners, each with different contractual terms, service-levels expectations, and compliance requirements. Without a centralized vendor database, automated tracking system, and built-in collaboration and approval tools, maintaining visibility into performance metrics, safety compliance, insurance documentation, and contractual obligations can become cumbersome.  

These gaps can lead to missed deadlines, compliance violations, and strained vendor relationships, ultimately affecting project timelines, cost control, and quality. Effective external collaboration requires clear accountability, centralized information, and real-time coordination across all project stakeholders. 

How Nakisa facilitates external collaboration with third parties

Nakisa centralizes vendor management by consolidating all vendor-related data—including agreements, performance metrics, compliance documents, service history, and certifications—into a single, unified platform. This centralized database reduces the risk of lost documentation or overlooked contractual obligations, while also improving transparency and collaboration across teams. 

Vendor assignments can be precisely scoped to specific premises, giving real estate professionals an efficient way to track service providers by location and ensure the right vendors support the right sites.  

What’s more, Nakisa enables vendors and external contractors to directly upload invoices and credit notes through the vendor portal. This centralized approach gives airline real estate teams full visibility into service quality and financials, enabling them to easily compare estimated vs. actual costs, track vendors' performance, and confidently approve or reject invoices. 

This functionality automates financial calculations, streamlines reconciliation, and simplifies auditing processes, reducing manual effort and risk of error. By allowing vendors to communicate and transact through the same platform, Nakisa fosters smoother collaboration and minimizes the need for back-and-forth emails or phone calls—saving time and improving overall accountability and efficiency. 

Challenge 4: Navigating regulatory compliance and risk management across jurisdictions

Meeting environmental and regulatory requirements across multiple jurisdictions is a complex task for airlines. Projects must often comply with international and regional standards such as ISO 14001 for environmental management, ISO 14064 for greenhouse gas reporting, and green building standards like LEED or BREEAM when developing terminals, hangars, or support facilities. Failure to comply can lead to costly fines, construction delays, or denied approvals. Airlines must also adhere to aviation-specific regulations related to passenger safety, accessibility, airport security, and environmental impact. These requirements vary widely across countries and airports, making compliance both time-sensitive and resource-intensive. 

Adding to this complexity, airlines must plan for unforeseen risks, such as geopolitical shifts, supply chain disruptions, or extreme weather events. Without effective risk management and contingency planning, capital projects become vulnerable to delays, cost overruns, and compliance failures. 

How Nakisa ensures compliance with global regulations

Nakisa IWMS provides the tools airlines need to stay compliant, mitigate risks, and maintain project momentum, no matter the location or scale of the initiative.  

Centralized regulatory tracking. Nakisa IWMS centralizes all project-related data, providing capital project managers with a comprehensive overview of compliance requirements, project statuses, and regulatory milestones. The platform offers real-time visibility, so teams can act proactively on compliance risks before they escalate. Managers can assess risk levels and evaluate the potential operational, safety, and environmental implications of each project to ensure alignment with corporate and regulatory standards. This approach supports informed decision-making and better preparation for approval processes or audits. 

Streamlined compliance communication. The proposal comments feature enhances documentation and accountability by capturing compliance-related discussions, approvals, and regulatory concerns in a centralized, structured format. This minimizes miscommunication, creates a clear audit trail, and simplifies demonstration of compliance during inspections or formal audits. 

Custom compliance metrics and scorecards.  Airlines can define custom compliance metrics for individual airport locations or facilities using configurable scorecards. These metrics ensure that every project is evaluated against all relevant aviation and construction standards, including safety, environmental, and operational guidelines. 

Sustainability and ESG tracking. Nakisa also enables airlines to track energy usage and sustainability initiatives. This functionality supports alignment with ESG targets, carbon emissions reduction, which adherence to environmental standards such as LEED certification, ISO 14001, or Airport Carbon Accreditation (ACA) programs. 

Risk management and scenario planning. Built-in tracking and forecasting tools allow capital project teams to identify risks early and adapt project plans proactively. Scenario modeling simulates potential disruptions and evaluates impacts of different risk factors, enabling teams to minimize vulnerabilities and plan for contingencies. 

Facility compliance and maintenance oversight. Nakisa’s facility management capabilities include asset monitoring to ensure continuous compliance with safety codes and maintenance schedules for airport properties, hangars, and operational sites. This prevents unplanned downtimes and supports the long-term integrity of critical assets. 

Zoning and local construction requirements. Some projects, such as terminal fit-outs or hangar expansions, must meet local zoning regulations and airport-specific development standards. Nakisa ensures that all documentation is centralized and accessible, making it easier to manage zoning approvals, track permit timelines, and comply with local construction requirements. 

By consolidating all compliance, risk, and environmental data in one accessible platform, Nakisa provides airlines with the structure and visibility needed to stay audit-ready, reduce regulatory risk, and seamlessly manage project continuity across global jurisdictions. 

Challenge 5: Overcoming fragmented systems in capital planning and project execution

As airlines face increasing pressure to modernize operations and maximize capital investment returns, effective capital planning and project execution depend on seamless technology integration. Yet many airlines still rely on manual data aggregation or siloed systems spread across real estate, finance, engineering, and operations. This fragmentation hinders enterprise-wide visibility into operations, locations, and projects, slows timely decision-making, and increases the risk of costly errors, budget overruns, and missed opportunities. 

Airline capital projects span a wide array of assets and activities, from new terminals and maintenance hangars to route-specific infrastructure and back-office technology. When stakeholders plan initiatives without unified data, they risk overlooking critical asset performance metrics, ignoring lease obligations or utilization rates, or duplicating efforts across locations. Disconnected systems make it nearly impossible to assess the true impact of potential investments or accurately identify underperforming, redundant, or non-compliant sites.  

Airlines must integrate both internal (operational, financial, and asset) and external (local regulatory, market demand, competitive, and environmental) data to inform capital project management: 

• Internal integration ensures all project costs, from initial design and construction to ongoing maintenance and lease obligations, flow directly into finance, ERP, and maintenance management platforms. This enables real-time budget oversight, dynamic scenario modeling, and rapid response to events such as regulatory changes, route expansions, or volatility in passenger demand. 
• External integration connects enterprise systems to aviation-specific tools, such as flight operations platforms, route planning tools, airport authority databases, and environmental monitoring services. These external feeds provide vital context for capital investment decisions, helping airlines anticipate shifts in market demand, comply with evolving safety and environmental regulations, and benchmark against industry standards.  

Traditional planning approaches, reliant on isolated spreadsheets and manual data transfers, cannot keep pace with the complexity of today’s aviation landscape. Inaccurate forecasting, delayed approvals, duplicated projects are common consequences, translating to wasted capital and missed growth opportunities.   

To overcome these challenges, airlines need a unified technology platform that connects their people, systems, and data, providing a single source of truth for enterprise-wide capital project management. 

What integrations Nakisa IWMS offers and their benefits

Nakisa is designed for secure, seamless integration between internal and external systems, eliminating data silos that often slow down planning, increase error risk, and hinder informed decision-making. Here’s how Nakisa IWMS supports system integration to streamline airline capital planning and execution: 

Cross-product integration within Nakisa IWMS. Nakisa IWMS connects capital projects, real estate, and facility teams through a shared, real-time data environment. While each team accesses tailored user interfaces, all teams rely on consistent, centralized information. For example, capital project managers can evaluate existing airport assets and lease terms before initiating a new development, ensuring the project is well-aligned with current operations. Once a capital project is complete, the new site is added directly to the real estate portfolio, where lease terms, compliance needs, and maintenance tasks can be managed. Data for vendors, contractors, and airport authorities is also consolidated across modules, supporting smarter sourcing decisions and strategic long-term planning. 

Native finance systems and ERP integration. Nakisa offers native bidirectional ERP integration to SAP ECC, SAP S/4HANA, Oracle, Workday, as well as API integration to platforms like BlackLine. This ensures smooth data flow between project and finance teams, automates bulk financial postings and reconciliation, and gives accounting teams instant access to relevant project and capital expenditures, including lease and construction costs. The results are streamlined reporting, improved data accuracy, and enhanced compliance tracking. 

API connectivity to external tools. Robust REST APIs allow airlines to connect Nakisa IWMS platform to external systems such as market research databases, environmental compliance tools, and aviation-specific analytics platforms. These integrations help project teams evaluate site potential, assess real-time market and regulatory changes, and anticipate operational needs with greater precision. 

Advanced analytics and AI-driven intelligence. Nakisa transforms static reports into dynamic, shareable dashboards powered by advanced analytics and AI. Project managers can track project health, compare budgeted versus actual costs, and model future scenarios with configurable visualizations. With Nakisa AI, including its Analytic Agent and AI Assistant users can generate dashboards or filtered reports on demand using natural language prompt (e.g., by budget range, region, or project phase) This speeds up access to relevant data and supports confident, timely decisions, without requiring technical expertise. 

By providing real-time data access and eliminating system disconnects, Nakisa IWMS helps airlines streamline team collaboration and reporting, improve capital allocation and financial accuracy, boost compliance and audit readiness, and respond quickly to changing market and operational conditions. These integrations form the technological backbone of scalable, efficient capital project management across global airline operations.  

Leasing, Financing, or Building

Once capital projects are prioritized and scoped, airlines must navigate the intricate processes of leasing, financing, or constructing airport-related facilities. Leasing negotiations demand sophisticated risk assessment and regulatory compliance, as strong passenger demand meets limited infrastructure availability and rising costs. After securing a lease or purchase agreement, the focus shifts to financing and construction, which require close coordination to stay on budget and schedule, every misstep poses risks of operational disruption and margin erosion. 

Challenge 6: Managing complex lease negotiations for global airline infrastructure

Securing competitive lease terms is more challenging than ever for global airlines. Airports and government stakeholders offer a limited supply of desirable locations, such as high-traffic terminals or strategically placed hangars. Intense competition pushes leasing rates higher. Compounding this, regulatory complexities, local variations in lease formats, tax regimes, and legal structures heighten the negotiation burden and extend approval cycles. These hurdles mean missed strategic opportunities or being locked into suboptimal contracts, ultimately constraining efficiency and future growth. 

When evaluating whether to lease, invest in facility fit outs, or co-develop infrastructure, airlines must weigh factors including forecasted passenger traffic, route strategy alignment, available airport capacity, and the long-term financial implicit of each deal. Key financial terms, such as lease duration, escalation clauses, service fees, insurance, maintenance responsibilities, and utility costs can significantly impact the profitability and flexibility of operating in a given airport. Failing to rigorously analyze these conditions during negotiations can lead to agreements that burden the airline with high costs and inflexible obligations over time. 

The challenge escalates for airlines with a global portfolio, as they must navigate widely varying legal, regulatory, and operational frameworks across regions. Differences in language, currency, tax policy, and lease execution formats multiply the difficulty of negotiations and ongoing contract management. Without a centralized platform for tracking and managing leases, airlines often rely on disconnected spreadsheets or local tools, increasing the risk of overlooking critical terms, misinterpreting obligations, or unintentionally falling out of compliance. These gaps can lead to costly financial decisions, operational disruptions, non-compliance, or unfavorable contract terms that hinder long-term performance.  

How Nakisa IWMS simplifies lease negotiations and financial oversight

Managing complex lease negotiations in the aviation industry requires agility, transparency, and strong financial insight. Nakisa IWMS addresses these challenges with a suite of centralized tools designed to streamline decision-making and reduce risk exposure for airline teams.  

Nakisa Decision Intelligence (NDI). Nakisa’s enterprise-grade decision intelligence solution empowers leaders to approach lease negotiations with confidence. NDI unifies and analyzes vast internal and external data in real time, providing forecasts, simulations, and actionable guidance. By leveraging market insights from multiple sources, NDI helps teams identify new opportunities, assess risks, and flag out the underperforming assets. With natural language queries via text or voice, leaders can receive tailored recommendations instantly and act on them through leveraging multiple Nakisa AI Agents. 

Side-by-side site and lease comparison. Nakisa allows airlines to evaluate multiple leasing and owning scenarios simultaneously. Each option can be assessed based on projected revenues, investment costs, and automatically calculated financial KPIs such as net present value, internal rate of return, break-even point. Airlines can create multiple scenarios for each option, ranging from optimistic to conservative, ensuring selection of the most strategic and cost-effective solution. 

Financial scenario modeling and forecasting. Airlines can analyze the mid- and long-term financial impact of lease terms, including rent escalations, airport service charges, insurance, and maintenance obligations. With built-in forecasting, they can simulate market scenarios to strengthen negotiations and support resilient, profitable decisions. Once teams are agreed, contract managers can draft agreements, apply proposed conditions, and automatically generate future payment schedules. 

Integration with market and portfolio data. Nakisa can integrate multiple external data sources, such as airport market data, to allow contract managers to benchmark lease terms against current agreements and local trends. This alignment with market conditions and the airline’s broader network strategy ensures that new deals are competitive and support long-term business objectives. 

AI Document Abstraction. Nakisa AI Document Abstraction rapidly identifies and extracts key fields from lease and concession agreements, across jurisdictions and languages. Users can query Nakisa AI-driven chatbot to instantly summarize contracts or surface specific critical details. This automation minimizes manual work, speeds up review cycles, and improves accuracy throughout contract evaluation. 

Upload multiple documents and let Nakisa AI abstract them. You’ll see the extracted key data alongside the original document for quick validation

Centralized data management. Nakisa’s virtual library brings together all lease-related information on a single, unified platform, ensuring that no critical detail—such as escalation terms, renewal provisions, or financial commitments—is overlooked. Contract managers can quickly categorize, search, and view all documents linked to specific leases. This centralized approach reduces manual tracking risks and provides stakeholders across the organization with easy access to essential information. 

Internal alignment across departments. Lease negotiations in the airline industry often involve multiple regions and functions. Nakisa facilitates alignment with automated workflows, role-based permission, and real-time collaboration tools. All related documents are securely stored in a structured, centralized repository, available to authorized stakeholders. This simplifies document management, provides transparency and control, and ensures a reliable audit trail for compliance and review purposes. 

Critical dates monitoring. Nakisa IWMS tracks key milestones, including negotiation deadlines, renewal periods, and payment due dates. Assigned team members receive timely in-app alerts and email notifications to help them stay on schedule and never miss key deadlines. 

Altogether, Nakisa IWMS gives airlines the visibility and control needed to manage lease negotiations strategically and oversee financial commitments with confidence. By centralizing lease information and automating workflows, teams are well-positioned to transition smoothly into the next stage: lease operations and monitoring. In the next section, we will explore this stage while examining common challenges airlines face when leasing, financing, or constructing new assets. 

Operating and monitoring leases and facilities

Once leases are activated, the focus shifts from contract execution to the complex day-to-day management of ongoing lease operations. This phase demands diligent oversight of lease payments, tracking contractual dates, and strict adherence to financial reporting standards such as IFRS 16, ASC 842, and applicable local GAAP regulations. For airlines operating large, geographically dispersed portfolios with varied lease types and terms, maintaining real-time visibility and control over all lease obligations is a considerable challenge.  

Effective lease management is now essential, not only to control costs and minimize financial risk, but also to sustain operational efficiency and keep pace with regulatory demands. This becomes particularly important when handling complex lease arrangements, multiple payment structures, and rigorous compliance obligations. 

We will now examine these challenges in more depth and explore how IWMS solutions like Nakisa can help address them effectively. 

Challenge 7: Managing large, global, multi-asset airline infrastructure portfolios

Global airlines manage an extensive range of geographically dispersed assets, from passenger terminals and hangars to ticket counters, maintenance facilities, and corporate offices. Each lease agreement operates under unique terms, regulatory requirements, and operational constraints that can vary widely between countries, regions, and airport authorities. Coordinating all this across multiple time zones, currencies, and jurisdictions demands strong centralized oversight and complete data visibility.  

As portfolios expand, the need for consistent processes, accurate real-time information, and strategic alignment becomes even more critical. Without robust, integrated systems, airlines face fragmented information, process inefficiencies, missed opportunities to optimize their space and asset usage, and heightened risk of non-compliance. 

Handling high volumes of contracts and complex lease data 

For global airlines, managing infrastructure means staying on top of hundreds, sometimes thousands, of lease agreements and service contracts worldwide. Each lease can contain different payment structures, cost-sharing terms, escalation clauses, maintenance obligations, renewal rules, and compliance obligations. Tracking these manually through spreadsheets or legacy systems increases the risk of human error, missed renewals, contractual breaches, potential non-compliance, and unnecessary financial losses.  

These inefficiencies can disrupt operations, weaken negotiating leverage, and expose airlines to reputational and regulatory risks. To operate efficiently, airlines require a centralized, enterprise-grade system that can track, manage, and report on large portfolios of infrastructure contracts in real time. 

How Nakisa IWMS automates large-scale contract management for airlines

The Nakisa Portfolio Management Suite, a core component of Nakisa IWMS, is built to handle the complexity of global airline infrastructure. From hangar and terminal lease agreements to maintenance and service contracts, Nakisa helps airlines manage over 100,000 contracts from initiation through termination. 

Centralized contract management. Nakisa consolidates all contract information into a single, unified system structured across three levels: location, premise, and individual contract. Multiple contracts for one location, such as facility leases, ground handling services, or catering agreements, are all tracked under a master agreement, giving teams a complete view of all obligations and associated payments for clear oversight at each facility. 

Users can also upload contract documents in various formats, enhancing accessibility and visibility, particularly valuable for compliance audits or renewal evaluations. Built-in alerts and email notifications keep stakeholders informed about upcoming milestones, like payment schedules, activation deadlines, or lease expirations. This allows airlines to mitigate oversight risk and maintain full compliance across diverse operational hubs. 

Custom attributes and operational hierarchies. Nakisa IWMS lets airlines configure aviation-specific custom attributes and hierarchies to categorize and track all assets and operational areas. Examples include zones (international arrivals, domestic departures), terminals, lounges (business, airline specific), counters (check-in, ticketing), and gates. Attributes can be organized by airport, facility type, or function, creating a highly structured portfolio view. This granular organization improves visibility into asset usage, maintenance needs, and operational performance, enabling smarter resource planning and streamlined coordination across diverse airport facilities. 

Nakisa AI Document Abstraction. This tool automatically extracts and validates key terms from lease and service agreements with high precision. Bulk abstraction and validation accelerate onboarding of new contracts, dramatically reducing manual workload and error rates. 

Automated mass operations and batch processing. Nakisa IWMS offers a powerful mass data import feature that streamlines data entry for extensive lease and infrastructure portfolios. With built-in format validation and error detection, imports are fast and accurate. The mass event management feature allows bulk updates to lease components, such as modifying ROU asset values or rent terms. By simply filtering relevant contracts, users can schedule mass modification jobs, reduce repetitive manual input, and minimize data inconsistencies.  

The bulk integration. This functionality automates frequent tasks, such as transaction postings, workflow updates, and asset remeasurements, saving time for teams managing hundreds or even thousands of lease and service agreements.  

The mass reversals and period adjustments feature facilitates historical data corrections, ensuring clean and auditable financial records. Additionally, the job posting scheduling automates key month-end activities, providing detailed logs for real-time tracking and full transparency.  

Together, these capabilities enable airline teams to efficiently manage large volumes of contracts across multiple airport locations and jurisdictions.  

Automated calculations for lease and non-lease costs. Nakisa automatically generates rent tables, calculates cost allocations, and creates journal entries based on contract terms. This includes both fixed lease costs and variable components. Nakisa’s flexible calculation engine allows for complex formulas tailored to airline-specific lease conditions, such as rent based on passenger volume, landing or take-off frequency, gate usage, tiered service fees for ground handling, seasonable rate adjustments during peak travel periods, and fuel throughput fees tied to volume consumed. Airlines can also manage hangar leases, cargo facility charges, slot usage fees, and airport improvement levies in the same system. 

Based on contractual agreements, Nakisa Portfolio Management software schedules recurring and one-time payments for lease and non-lease expenses.

Leveraging advanced agentic AI, Nakisa streamlines payment calculations even further. The AI Agent for complex rent calculation generates custom rent formulas automatically, handling multi-factor agreements and complex escalation rules. 

These capabilities ensure precise expense recognition, support budgeting and forecasting, and reduce manual errors. By automating these financial processes, Nakisa helps airlines maintain compliance with accounting standards while gaining real-time visibility into cost drivers and operational expenditures.  

Managing multi-asset airline portfolios

Global airlines oversee a highly diverse mix of assets, including airport facilities, leased fleet, ground service equipment, hangars, and administrative properties, each with its own regulatory, operational, and financial requirements. Managing this complexity demands precise oversight for compliance, lifecycle tracking, and cost control. For example, aircraft leases require vigilant monitoring of variable rent clauses, maintenance events, and usage thresholds, while ground equipment like baggage tugs and catering trucks must be scheduled for preventive maintenance and tracked within inventory systems. Hangars and terminal spaces involve contract administration, utilities management, and adherence to airport-specific zoning and development guidelines. 

Most airlines manage both leased and owned assets spread across numerous airport locations. Balancing lease obligations with the operational oversight of owned infrastructure is challenging, especially when asset data is siloed across departments and geographies. Without a centralized platform, it becomes difficult to achieve a unified view of asset performance, total ownership and leasing costs, or financial impact. 

Cost allocation further complicates management. Tracking maintenance, fuel, usage fees, and facility-related expenses across multiple sites is resource-intensive and prone to errors when handled manually. As airlines expand, the scalability of asset management becomes critical, requiring alignment between financial precision, operational reliability, and strategic objectives.  

An integrated system consolidates property, fleet, equipment, and facility data into a single source of truth. This enables real-time visibility, automated lifecycle tracking, centralized cost allocation, and compliance oversight, reducing inefficiencies, improving decision-making, and ensuring strategic alignment across the entire multi-asset portfolio. 

How Nakisa IWMS centralizes multi-asset portfolio management for airlines

Nakisa IWMS empowers airlines to manage their entire asset ecosystem in a single, centralized platform, covering everything from real estate and land holdings to fleet and equipment.  This unified solution provides contract managers, finance teams, and operations with a single source of truth across all asset types and ownership structures. 

For real estate assets, Nakisa automates rent table creation and supports both fixed and variable rent calculations. It also streamlines management of non-lease clauses, including maintenance chargebacks and airport service fee reconciliations. Lease hierarchies are structured from location to premise to contract, giving teams a clear view of obligations and payments across all facilities. For equipment and aircraft fleets, the platform supports complete lease lifecycle management, from initiation and activation to modifications and termination. Asset hierarchies can be defined with high granularity, from master lease agreements to activation groups and individual aircraft tail numbers or equipment units, ensuring precise oversight at every level. Beyond accounting, Nakisa also streamlines asset lifecycle oversight, including inventory tracking, maintenance and repair history, and part management, giving airlines complete visibility and control over their fleets. 

The system accommodates multiple ownership models, enabling teams to manage leased, owned, and subleased assets in a single system. All contracts, amendments, financial terms, and supporting documents are securely stored in a centralized repository for full traceability. For owned facilities such as airport terminals, hangars, lounges, and other operational buildings, the platform tracks asset usage, associated expenses, and critical documentation, supporting better performance monitoring and preventive maintenance planning. 

The system is fully compliant with IFRS 16, ASC 842, and local GAAP standards. Its true asset-level accounting allows airlines to accurately calculate depreciation, generate journal entries, and process remeasurements across diverse asset classes. This thorough approach ensures audit readiness, minimizes financial discrepancies, and supports rigorous regulatory compliance, an essential advantage in the highly scrutinized and competitive aviation sector. 

Optimizing global portfolio management: parallel accounting, multi-currency, multi-calendar, and multi-language support 

Managing leases in a global airline operation is inherently complex, requiring an operational and financial balancing act, as each jurisdiction can have its own regulatory framework, tax obligations, financial reporting requirements, and operational practices. Cross-border considerations, such as varying banking infrastructure, contract enforcement standards, and fluctuating exchange rates can further complicate contract management, payment processing, and portfolio oversight. 

Navigating global compliance and accounting standards. Airlines often lease and operate a wide array of assets, such as aircraft, engines, terminal space, hangars, ground equipment, airport counters, across many countries. Each location may require compliance with different financial regulations and lease accounting standards such as IFRS 16, ASC 842, or local GAAP, alongside regional tax laws and specific contract obligations. As portfolios grow, ensuring accuracy and alignment across all jurisdictions becomes increasingly difficult, and without consistent processes the risk of inconsistencies, audit findings, and missed reporting deadlines increases significantly. 

Handling multi-currency lease agreements. Lease payments are often negotiated in local currencies, while airlines must report in their corporate currency. This creates complexities in tracking rent, calculating asset value, reconciling payments, or forecasting future costs, especially when exchange rates fluctuate. Without systems and processes that capture accurate real-time currency conversions and consolidate reports in both local and reporting currencies, financial transparency and performance forecasting can be compromised.  

Managing diverse fiscal calendars. Global airlines operate across regions where fiscal year differ from the corporate calendar, whether aligning with the calendar year (January to December), a peak travel season, or regulatory reporting cycle (such as April to March or July to June). Coordinating payment schedules, renewals, and reporting in a way that satisfies both local and corporate timelines requires meticulous planning and consistent oversight.  

Supporting multi-language lease operations. Lease contracts, operational documents, and correspondence are often written in local languages. Without multi-language support, contract interpretation becomes risky and error prone. Legal, financial, and operational terms can be misinterpreted, leading to costly mistakes or compliance issues. A global airline requires a system that supports multiple languages across the interface and documents, allowing teams in different regions to work effectively while ensuring data consistency and regulatory alignment. 

How Nakisa IWMS helps airlines manage global lease complexity

Compliance across multiple jurisdictions. Nakisa IWMS allows airlines to manage leases in accordance with IFRS 16, ASC 842, and local accounting standards. All lease data, whether for aircraft, equipment, and airport facilities, is centralized, with built-in compliance checks ensuring entries are accurate and audit-ready. Seamless, bidirectional ERP integration ensures that accounting records reflect both local regulations and enterprise-wide policies. This unified approach enhances financial visibility and significantly reduces audit risk across an airline’s global footprint. 

Multi-currency lease support. Nakisa supports leases and payments in any currency. The system automatically calculates amounts in both local and corporate currencies, manages exchange rate updates, and ensures transparent tracking of gains or losses due to currency fluctuations. This is critical for managing international aircraft leases, engine swaps, or equipment rentals across regions with volatile currencies.

Multi-calendar functionality for regional alignment. The platform’s robust multi-calendar management lets airlines configure fiscal calendars by legal entity, country, or lease type. Whether operating on a standard annual calendar or adapting to region-specific year ends, Nakisa ensures lease lifecycles, rent schedules, escalations, and reporting align precisely with regional fiscal realities. Teams can account for contract anniversary dates, local holidays, and schedule remeasurements or renewals with accuracy. 

This flexibility is essential for airlines operating across jurisdictions with diverse regulatory and fiscal requirements. While non-standard calendars like 4-4-5 are less common in aviation, Nakisa’s support for custom fiscal configurations ensures consistent data, regulatory compliance, and timely financial processes across global lease and asset portfolios. 

Multi-language lease management. Nakisa provides comprehensive language support, including English, French, Spanish, and more, allowing global airline teams to operate in their preferred language. This minimizes the risk of misinterpretation, improves contract accuracy, and enhances collaboration among legal, finance, and operations teams across borders. 

With a centralized, intelligent, and global-ready lease management solution, Nakisa IWMS equips airlines to confidently manage large volumes of diverse contracts. From aircraft and auxiliary equipment to terminals and ticket counters, Nakisa helps streamline operations, ensure compliance, and support faster, data-driven decisions worldwide. 

Challenge 8: Managing complex lease structures in airline operations

Airlines operate within increasingly complex leasing environments involving diverse asset types and varied lease structures. These arrangements can include subleases of critical assets such as aircraft or engines, shared-use or licensed arrangements for airport infrastructure, embedded leases within maintenance or service contracts, and evergreen agreements with auto-renewal provisions. Effectively managing these complex lease structures is critical to ensuring regulatory compliance, financial accuracy, and operational continuity across global airline portfolios. 

Managing multiple area types under the same location and contract

Airlines often lease diverse spaces within the same location, including baggage zones, lounges, check-in counters, hangars, and retail kiosks. Each area may have unique rent structures, variable fees, vendor agreements, and contractual clauses, making cost control and compliance particularly complex. For global carriers, reconciling charges and handling fee adjustment notices (FANs) across such a broad portfolio adds another layer of operational and financial challenge. Ensuring accurate billing, tracking, and compliance across multiple area types demands robust processes and centralized oversight. 

How Nakisa assist with flexible multi-area management

Nakisa IWMS allows airlines to manage multiple area types within the same premises and contract seamlessly. Each area can be configured with distinct rates, vendors, clauses, and charge structures, providing full visibility into costs and obligations. The platform centralizes tracking of all financial and operational data, automates reconciliations, and ensures that fee adjustment notices are accurately processed. With dashboards and configurable reports, airlines gain real-time insights into area utilization, expenses, and lease compliance, reducing administrative burden and enabling informed decision-making. 

Managing subleases and dual-role lease structures 

A common industry scenario involves airlines acting simultaneously as lessees and lessors, particularly with assets such as aircraft, engines, and airport facilities. For example, an airline may lease an aircraft from a lessor and then sublease it to a partner carrier under a dry lease agreement or share gate space leased from an airport with a codeshare partner. In these dual-role lease structures, the airline manages inbound lease obligations (acting as a lessee) while also generating income from subleases (acting as a lessor). 

This dual function adds layers of operational, legal, and financial complexity. As a lessee, the airline must comply fully with lease terms including timely rent and fee payments, maintenance obligations, insurance coverage, and adherence to service-level agreements. Simultaneously, as lessors, the airline must ensure accurate invoicing, enforce lease escalations, and hold subtenants accountable for contractual and operational commitments. Coordinating these responsibilities require seamless integration of legal, operational, and finance teams to avoid gaps that could expose the airline to regulatory breaches or financial losses. 

Central to managing these multi-layered leases is the careful tracking of lease liabilities for inbound contracts and lease income from subleases. Airlines must also reconcile payment and renewal schedules across layers of leases and align these with diverse regulatory frameworks that differ by jurisdiction. Importantly, accounting for the right-of-use (ROU) assets and lease liabilities becomes more complex, especially if original lease terms are modified due to sublease arrangements. 

Without centralized, robust lease management systems capable of handling these intricate and multi-layered arrangements, airlines risk financial discrepancies, regulatory non-compliance, and operational inefficiencies. Strong lease governance and integrated contract oversight are critical to mitigate these risks in today’s dynamic, global airline leasing landscape.  

How Nakisa IWMS streamlines subleasing for airlines

Nakisa Portfolio Management, a key suite of Nakisa IWMS, is purpose-built to handle the complexities of dual-role lease structures common in the airline industry. For airlines acting as both lessee and lessor, Nakisa automates the distinct lease accounting treatments required, recognizing lease liabilities for head leases while generating income for subleases. The lessor accounting module supports operating leases, allowing airlines to manage leased-out assets like aircraft, lounges, or equipment with precision. The platform allows multiple contracts to be linked to the same asset, for example managing a head lease of an aircraft alongside a sublease to a partner airline. Automated reassessment of ROU assets and lease liabilities is handled when subleasing events occur, ensuring accurate financial reporting and compliance. 

All sublease terms, payment obligations, and renewal conditions are centrally stored and tracked, with the same system issuing separate invoices for head lease payments and sublease income. This streamlines financial processes and reduces administrative complexity. Automatic notifications keep stakeholders up to date on important contract events, such as terminations, escalations, or renewals. 

With out-of-the-box dashboards and configurable reports, Nakisa provides finance and operation teams with full transparency into both leased and subleased assets. Key metrics such as lease income, asset utilization, contract modifications, and financial impacts can be analyzed in real time, helping airline teams make informed decisions and stay compliant with audit requirements. With Nakisa AI Agent for analytics, it’s even easier to create tailored reporting dashboards focused on critical operational and financial metrics specifically for subleases. Nakisa Decision Intelligence optimizes sublease management even further with tailored expert assistance built on internal and external data sources. 

Managing sale and leaseback (SLB) arrangements

Sale and leaseback (SLB) transactions remain a common and strategic financing strategy in the airline industry, enabling companies to free up capital tied up in high-value assets, such as aircraft, engines, or airport facilities, while retaining operational control. By selling an owned asset to a lessor and leasing it back, airlines free up immediate liquidity to fund growth, repay debt, or strengthen their balance sheet.  

While financially attractive, SLBs introduce complex accounting, tax, and operational considerations, especially under IFRS 16 and ASC 842. Airlines must determine whether the transaction qualifies as a genuine sale, accurately measure any retained right-of-use (ROU) asset, and properly recognize gains or losses. Misclassification can result in misstated financial results, compliance risks, and increased audit scrutiny for airlines managing complex, global fleets. 

Determining a true sale. SLB transactions require careful assessment under revenue recognition rules to confirm whether control of the asset has been transferred to the buyer-lessor. This involves evaluating if significant risks and rewards of ownership have genuinely shifted, or if the transaction is, in substance, a financing arrangement. Errors in this assessment can lead to incorrect recognition of lease liabilities, gains, and losses on sale, affecting both the balance sheet and income statement. 

Measuring the retained ROU asset. When the sale is confirmed, airlines must calculate the portion of the asset carrying value that relates to the usage they retain under the leaseback. This requires accurate asset valuations, complete maintenance and usage records, and alignment with the new lease terms. Incorrect measurements can distort depreciation schedules, lease liability amounts, and overall financial position. 

Managing complex leaseback terms. SLB agreements in aviation often include variable rent clauses, usage-based fees, purchase options, early termination rights, or maintenance-linked conditions (e.g., tied to block hours or flight cycles). These elements can materially alter the measurement of lease liabilities and ROU assets and often require ongoing modification monitoring that trigger remeasurement under IFRS 16 or ASC 842. 

Handling multi-asset, multi-jurisdiction SLB transactions. Global airlines frequently execute SLB that bundles multiple aircraft or engines across various jurisdictions, each with its own tax rules, legal interpretations, and accounting treatments. Managing these deals at scale demands consistent reporting, precise data consolidation, and coordination between local teams, central finance, and external auditors. Variations in currency, fiscal calendars, and regulatory frameworks further amplify the challenge. 

In a capital-intensive industry with tight margins, SLB arrangements can be an effective liquidity and portfolio management strategy, but only if managed with rigorous governance, accurate valuation, and proactive compliance oversight across all operational and financial dimensions. 

How Nakisa simplifies sale and leaseback management for airlines

Nakisa provides automation, controls, and financial visibility airlines need to confidently navigate sales and leaseback (SLB) transactions while maintaining compliance with global accounting standards: 

• Automated sale assessment. Nakisa streamlines evaluation of SLB transactions against IFRS 16 and ASC 842 criteria, reducing reliance on manual judgment and ensuring accurate derecognition of assets and correct lease setup. 
• Precise ROU asset calculation. Nakisa automatically measures the retained ROU asset based on usage rights and aligns depreciation schedules and lease liabilities setup with IFRS 16 and ASC 842 requirements. 
• Real-time remeasurement. Nakisa dynamically recalculates lease liabilities and ROU assets whenever leaseback terms change—whether due to renegotiated rates, new variable components, or early terminations, ensuring financial records are always current and accurate. 
• Global and multi-asset support. Nakisa handles cross-border SLB transactions with ease, supporting multi-currency, jurisdiction-specific rules, and fleet-wide consistency, scaling efficiently even for large, complex portfolios. 

By automating complex calculations, simplifying compliance, and providing transparent audit trails, Nakisa enables airlines to use sale and leaseback transactions as a strategic financing tool without compromising accuracy or control. 

Handling embedded leases in airline contracts

Embedded leases are common in airline agreements, particularly in long-term aircraft maintenance programs, engine service agreements, or cargo handling contracts. In these cases, the right to use a specific asset (such as aircraft, engine, or specialized ground equipment) may be included sometimes without the term “lease” ever appearing.   Other examples include dedicated aircraft under purchase agreements, specified ground vehicles in service contracts, or exclusive storage facilities within broader logistics agreements. 

Under IFRS 16 and ASC 842, airlines are required to identify, classify, and appropriately account for these lease components. This means that any contract granting control over a specific, physically distinct asset must be reviewed for embedded leases and, if present, capitalized on the balance sheet as a right-of-use (ROU) asset and lease liability. 

Proper management of embedded leases is critical: failure to separate and recognize embedded leases and service components can lead to misstated financials, non-compliance with accounting regulations, and increased audit risks. As airline service contracts evolve, the underlying lease component may change (for example, assets may be swapped, terms modified, or usage expanded), requiring ongoing tracking, re-evaluation, and potentially remeasurement of the ROU asset and related liabilities. 

Recognizing embedded leases often requires a detailed review to determine whether control of an identified asset has truly transferred, whether the asset is substitutable, and whether economic benefits accrue solely to the airline.

How Nakisa IWMS simplifies embedded lease tracking for airlines 

Nakisa IWMS helps airline finance and operations teams effectively manage embedded leases by providing a centralized, structured approach to distinguishing lease and non-lease elements within service contracts. Instead of manually separating embedded lease components across different systems, Nakisa consolidates all contractual obligations—whether lease-related or service-based—in one single place.  

Once an embedded lease is identified, Nakisa classifies lease components for capitalization and records associated services (such as aircraft maintenance) as non-lease expenses. This separation ensures that financial reporting accurately reflects the nature of each obligation and remains fully compliant with international accounting standards.  

Finance teams can also use Nakisa to track contract amendments, monitor renewal triggers, and ensure all cost elements—lease and service—are accurately allocated over the contract lifecycle. This reduces the manual burden of contract dissection and allows airlines to operate with confidence in their lease accounting processes. 

Managing evergreen leases in global airline operations

Managing evergreen leases in global airline operations involves navigating operational continuity, flexibility, and complex accounting demands. Airlines commonly use evergreen leases for critical infrastructure such as airport facilities, cargo terminals, ground service equipment, and specialized IT systems. These leases automatically renew for successive terms unless either party provides a termination notice, allowing airlines to maintain uninterrupted access to essential assets without frequent renegotiations. For instance, an airline may lease a hangar at a major hub airport under a five-year agreement with an automatic renewal clause that continues the lease for another five years unless the airline or airport authority initiates termination.   

Operationally, evergreen leases provide continuity and reduce administrative burden for both lessors and lessees, but they require diligent tracking of lease terms, obligations, and payments across renewals. The indefinite renewal feature complicates long-term budgeting and planning, especially in a global context where leases span multiple fiscal years and jurisdictions. 

From an accounting standpoint, evergreen leases must be handled in compliance with IFRS 16, ASC 842, and other relevant standards. These standards mandate recognizing right-of-use (ROU) assets and lease liabilities, but continuous renewals make estimating the lease term and financial impact difficult. Airlines must carefully assess lease termination rights, notice periods, and remeasurement requirements to maintain compliance. Variations in regional regulations and lease modifications further complicate financial reporting and disclosures. 

Moreover, identifying evergreen clauses within an airline’s lease portfolio requires careful review. Many leases, especially old facility or service contracts, may contain such clauses embedded within complex contracts.  Without structured lease management systems, airlines risk overlooking these provisions, potentially resulting in unexpected financial obligations, operational constraints, or missed opportunities for renegotiation. 

How Nakisa IWMS enhances evergreen lease management with automated contract extension

Nakisa IWMS helps airlines manage evergreen leases by automating contract renewals while maintaining full compliance with global lease accounting standards. The platform gives airlines control over which contracts qualify for extension, allowing them to maintain operational stability without sacrificing flexibility. 

The solution supports automated month-to-month contract extensions after the original lease term expires. This setting can be activated at the lease creation stage or applied later using contract versioning. Admin users can configure financial postings for renewals beyond the initial term to be recorded as non-lease expenses, improving clarity in financial reporting. This automation reduces manual effort and allows for uninterrupted operations and financial consistency. 

However, relying on auto-renewals without oversight can lead to extended commitments that may no longer serve current operational needs. Nakisa addresses this risk by offering real-time lease dashboards, status tracking, and customizable reports for evergreen leases. Contract managers can easily view which leases have transitioned into extended terms and set review checkpoints. Automated alerts notify relevant stakeholders ahead of renewal dates, enabling timely evaluations, renegotiations, or terminations. 

By promoting regular reviews of evergreen leases, Nakisa empowers airlines to align their leasing strategy with evolving operational demands and market dynamics. This capability empowers finance and operations teams to make informed decisions, minimize unplanned costs, and optimize long-term portfolio efficiency. 

Handling prepaid leases for airlines

Prepaid leases typically occur when airlines make large upfront payments to secure long-term access to strategic assets. These arrangements may also arise with startups or high-risk operators, where lessors require prepayment to mitigate financial risks. Although not common in most airline leasing agreements, prepaid leases introduce distinct accounting challenges under IFRS 16 and ASC 842, particularly around timing, amortization, and future escalations.   

Prepaid leases often involve advance payments made months ahead of the lease start date. This is common when securing critical airport infrastructure or planning for seasonal capacity needs. When payment and usage fall into different reporting periods, airlines face timing mismatches that complicate expense recognition and can distort financial statements if not properly managed. 

Even with prepaid leases, the ROU asset must be amortized evenly over the full lease term, starting from the lease commencement date. Accurate alignment of amortization with actual operational use is essential to avoid misstated depreciation, profit, or equity. 

What’s more, prepaid lease arrangements may include escalation clauses tied to factors such as inflation (e.g., CPI), traffic growth, or regulatory rent reviews. Even though payment are made upfront, these future adjustments must still be reflected in the valuation of the lease liability and the ROU asset, adding further complexity for finance teams. 

To stay compliant with IFRS 16 and ASC 842, airlines must calculate lease liabilities based solely on the present value of remaining payments. Misallocating prepaid amounts can result in non-compliance, misstatements of assets and liabilities, and complications during audits. 

How Nakisa solves prepaid lease challenges

Nakisa equips airlines with the automation and structured processes required to effectively manage the complexities of prepaid leases: 

• Accurate ROU and lease liability alignment. Nakisa automatically incorporates prepaid amounts into the ROU asset while calculating lease liabilities exclusively based on future unpaid rent. This ensures consistent amortization across the lease term, regardless of payment timing, fully aligned with IFRS 16 and ASC 842 requirements. 
• Clear timing adjustments for accurate reporting. Airlines can precisely manage timing mismatches by aligning prepaid lease amounts with the correct lease start date. This avoids misstatements in expense recognition and ensures financial clarity for stakeholders and auditors. 
• Automated escalation handling and remeasurement. Nakisa detects and integrates escalation terms (e.g., CPI-linked increases or passenger volume-based adjustments) into both initial and subsequent lease measurements. Required remeasurements automatically adjust lease liabilities and ROU assets, keeping reporting accurate throughout the lease lifecycle. 

By automating prepaid lease treatments, aligning accounting entries with operational realities, and minimizing manual errors, Nakisa helps airlines handle prepaid lease scenarios with clarity, transparency, and full regulatory compliance. 

Overall, Nakisa provides a complete solution for managing complex lease structures across an airline's global footprint, including subleasing, sales and leaseback arrangements, embedded, evergreen, and prepaid leases. 

Challenge 9: Managing complex fixed and variable lease payments in airline operations

Airlines face significant challenges when managing complex lease agreements for aircraft, ground support equipment (GSE), airport facilities, and hangars. Many leases include both fixed and variable components based on operational metrics such as flight movements, passenger traffic, cargo volume, or equipment usage. Given the scale and geographical spread of airline operations, accurate rent calculation and timely reconciliation are essential for maintaining financial control and lease compliance. Without the right tools, these complexities can result in calculation errors, audit issues, and disputes with lessors or airport authorities. 

Calculating and managing variable rent based on operational metrics

Variable charges are often tied to metrics such as the number of enplaned passengers, flight movements, cargo weight, or fuel throughput. For example, a terminal gate lease may include a base monthly rent plus additional charges tied to aircraft turnarounds or passenger volume. While this payment structure benefits both lessors and lessees by aligning costs with actual usage, it adds significant complexity to financial tracking and lease administration. 

Aircraft operating leases often follow a similar pattern, combining fixed base rent with usage-based components such as block hours, flight cycles, or maintenance events. Under accounting standards like IFRS 16 and ASC 842, variable payments are excluded from the initial lease liability but must still be carefully tracked, disclosed, and expensed, adding an additional layer of compliance complexity. Misclassification or inconsistent tracking can lead to audit findings and financial misstatements. 

The challenge compounds at scale: airlines with large, diverse fleets must handle high volumes of usage data across multiple lessors, aircraft types, and operational conditions. Manual tracking is inefficient and error-prone, potentially causing incorrect invoicing, delayed reconciliations, and compliance risks. Without robust systems, variable rent data can be inconsistently reported, hindering transparency in financial disclosures. 

Many lease agreements in the airline industry include escalation clauses or periodic reviews, based on actual activity. Effective management requires systems that can automate remeasurement and reconcile lease obligations in real time, ensuring that accounting records stay accurate and audit ready.

How Nakisa IWMS simplifies complex variable lease management for airlines

Managing variable lease payments doesn’t have to be complex. Nakisa IWMS provides the tools airlines need to automate rent calculations, stay compliant, and reduce manual workloads. Here’s how: 

Customizable variable rent logic. Nakisa enables airlines to configure lease payment formulas tailored to each contract’s specific terms, including thresholds, escalation clauses, and exclusions. This flexibility supports the varied payment conditions typical for airline leases. 

Seamless operational data integration. Operational metrics can be uploaded via Excel or pulled automatically via API integrations from external systems. This ensures real-time visibility into usage data and eliminates manual reconciliation efforts. 

AI-powered formula creation: With Nakisa AI Agent for variable rent calculation, teams can describe payment conditions in plain language and have the platform generate the correct formula automatically. This reduces errors and accelerates setup time. 

Batch processing at scale: Nakisa supports bulk processing of variable rent calculations across large lease and asset portfolios, streamlining workflows for finance and lease administrators managing extensive aviation assets. 

Multi-currency support: Nakisa accommodates international operations by applying up-to-date exchange rates and ensuring accurate reporting across currencies. 

Automated reconciliation and true-ups: Nakisa compares estimated usage data with actuals, identifies discrepancies, and automatically adjusts financial records — keeping lease liabilities and expenses accurate throughout the lease lifecycle. 

Compliance-ready reporting: Fixed and variable rent components are clearly separated for accounting purposes. Nakisa ensures treatment compliant with IFRS 16 and ASC 842, supporting accurate P&L impact and transparent financial disclosures. 

By automating these complex processes and supporting lease accounting standards like IFRS 16 and ASC 842, Nakisa IWMS helps airlines maintain transparency and control over lease obligations, even when payments fluctuate based on operational usage. 

Managing escalating rent in global airline operations 

Airlines often operate under lease agreements that include escalation clauses, which introduce periodic rent increases over the lease term to align rental payments with long-term contractual obligations and evolving market conditions. Common types include fixed rent escalations, where rents increase by a set percentage annually (for example, a 3% increase per year), Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based adjustments to reflect inflation, and operating cost escalations that pass through additional charges such as airport facility, maintenance, or utility expenses. 

For global airlines managing a diverse portfolio of airport real estate, including terminals, counters, lounges, and hangars, tracking these escalations across multiple locations and currencies can be particularly demanding. Without centralized systems and automation, finance and lease teams risk missing or misapplying rent adjustments, leading to overpayments, compliance issues, and errors in financial reporting.  

Additionally, rent escalations directly impact the valuation of lease liabilities and right-of-use (ROU) assets under IFRS 16 and ASC 842. Accurate, timely updates to these valuations are vital to maintain accounting compliance and transparency. 

Volatile market conditions at major international airports further complicate rent escalations. Fluctuating passenger volumes, inflation rates, and operational fees can all influence lease terms and escalation triggers. Regional regulatory differences in rent increase caps or calculation methods, as well as leases denominated in multiple currencies, also increase the challenges of consistent management. 

Lease renewals, modifications, or early terminations may also trigger new escalation terms, requiring timely recalculations and updates to financial systems. Without proper oversight, it creates discrepancies, delays in reporting, and audit risks. 

Effectively managing escalating rent in global aviation portfolios requires automation, real-time financial insights, and a deep understanding of both local leasing conditions and international accounting requirements. Leveraging advanced lease management solutions that integrate escalation tracking with financial reporting workflows helps airlines reduce risks, enhance accuracy, and maintain audit readiness.

How Nakisa IWMS automates escalating rent calculation and management for airlines 

In Nakisa IWMS, the Portfolio Management Suite simplifies the management of escalation clauses for airlines by automating the tracking, calculation, and application of rent increases across their real estate and equipment lease portfolios.  

The software supports formula-based CPI computations, allowing airlines to define composite CPI categories tailored to specific regional indexes. This flexibility is essential for accurately managing airport property leases in regions with blended inflation rates or localized economic indicators. 

Nakisa automatically incorporates all rent escalations into lease payment schedules and remeasurement calculations, enabling finance teams to maintain accurate ROU asset and liability balances. Escalation terms are applied based on predefined schedules or index changes, minimizing manual effort and ensuring compliance with IFRS 16 and ASC 842 standards. 

Nakisa’s built-in financial forecasting and simulation tools allow airlines to model different escalation scenarios, evaluate their long-term financial impacts, and negotiate favorable lease terms with airport authorities and lessors. This enhances strategic planning and budgeting accuracy across the airline’s global portfolio of leased facilities and equipment. 

In Nakisa, escalating rent amounts are included in monthly postings and reconciliations. The platform maintains a full audit trail of escalation changes, supporting transparent compliance and efficient audits. Advanced reporting and dashboards provide real-time insights into rent trends, escalation impacts, and forecasted financial obligations. This centralized visibility helps identify inconsistencies, mitigate financial risk, and support better decision-making. 

By automating rent escalation management, Nakisa IWMS enables airlines to maintain regulatory compliance, reduce administrative effort, and effectively control lease-related costs across complex, globally distributed asset portfolios. 

Nakisa IWMS simplifies CPI-based rent escalations across global airline portfolios, ensuring accurate and compliant lease updates.

Challenge 10: Managing lease reassessments for global airlines

Lease reassessments are a critical yet complex aspect of lease management in the airline industry, often triggered by events such as lease extensions, early terminations, renewals, asset impairments, or indexation changes. These events require thorough operational and financial adjustments, to ensure accurate, compliant reporting and strategic asset management.  

For instance, extending an aircraft lease may introduce new payment schedules or escalate rent obligations, while early termination of a gate lease could lead to penalties and require write-off of right-of-use (ROU) assets. Airlines also routinely reevaluate underutilized or non-strategic locations, such as remote lounges or maintenance facilities, to optimize financial performance and compliance. 

Global carriers with diverse lease portfolios must manage these reassessments carefully to maintain compliance with IFRS 16, ASC 842, or relevant local GAAP, while optimizing long-term financial planning and operational agility. 

Lease renewals. Lease renewals involve negotiating new terms for continued asset use. In the airline context, this includes renewing access to airport gates, terminal counters, or leased aircraft based on evolving market conditions. Renewal clauses may specify predetermined pricing or allow market-based renegotiation. Managing renewals at scale is challenging due to fluctuating usage fees, complex contractual terms, and varying regulatory requirements across airports. Missed renewal deadlines can trigger automatic renewals or forced relocations, impacting operational continuity and cost management. 

Lease extensions. Lease extensions continue an agreement under current or modified terms. For example, extending a wet lease for an aircraft beyond the original term requires recalculating lease obligations, ROU assets, and liabilities. These extensions can affect associated escalations or operationally linked variable payments. Accurate determination of whether an extension reflects a practical choice or a contractual obligation is crucial for accurate lease accounting. Airlines must evaluate route profitability, fleet capacity, and aircraft utilization to make informed extension decisions. Automation helps avoid overcommitments and ensure compliance by aligning lease data with accounting standards. 

Lease terminations. Early lease terminations—such as exiting an underperforming lounge or hangar—require recalculations of lease liabilities, recognition of any exit penalties, and financial statement adjustments. Airlines may also need to recognize asset impairments. Decisions around terminations involve analyzing operational metrics, route economics, and strategic priorities such as hub consolidation or route shifts. Without robust systems in place, termination can be delayed or miscalculated, risking compliance breaches and financial misstatements. 

Lease impairments. Lease impairments occur when the carrying value of an ROU asset exceeds its recoverable amount, a significant risk when leases no longer align with business needs. Causes include sustained route underperformance, cost escalations, or strategic realignments. For airlines, monitoring asset productivity, route profitability, and fleet strategy is key to timely impairment recognition. Automating impairment assessments reduces the risk of overstated asset values and supports transparent financial reporting. 

Lease indexations. Indexation clauses, common in facility and aircraft leases, trigger regular payment adjustments tied to inflation (e.g., CPI), fuel surcharges, or other indexes. These changes protect lessors from inflation and provide airlines with structured cost visibility. Managing these adjustments across multiple jurisdictions and currencies can be complex. Each indexation event requires reassessment of lease liabilities and ROU assets to maintain accurate financial records. Automated lease accounting systems streamline this process, minimize calculation errors, and ensure timely financial updates. 

Buyout options. Buy-out options give airlines the right to purchase leased assets during or at lease end. Exercising such options is strategic when ownership is economically advantageous, or lease terms become unfavorable. Evaluating buyouts requires forecasting residual values, assessing strategic benefits, and updating lease classifications per IFRS 16 or ASC 842. Once exercise is deemed reasonably certain, leases are reclassified as finance leases, requiring adjustments to lease liabilities and the asset accounting. 

Rent reductions. Rent reductions may be negotiated with airport authorities or lessors during downturns or demand shocks, offering temporary or long-term relief, often in exchange for extended commitments. Such reductions commonly trigger lease modifications requiring careful accounting adjustments, such as revised lease schedules, discount rate updates, and accurate financial reporting. Clear documentation and legal scrutiny are essential to avoid disputes and maintain compliance. 

How Nakisa IWMS automates lease reassessments and modifications for airlines

Nakisa IWMS, through its Portfolio Management Suite equips airlines with comprehensive tools to efficiently manage lease reassessments triggered by events such as renewals, extensions, terminations, impairments, indexations, buy-out options, and rent reductions. These events can be processed either individually or in bulk across a global portfolio, depending on operational needs. Nakisa’s automation, advanced financial simulations, and compliance capabilities significantly reduce manual effort and minimize the risk of reporting errors.Here’s how Nakisa IWMS simplifies lease reassessments for the airline industry: 

AI Document Abstraction. This AI-driven tool plays a key role in lease initiation, lease reassessment, and version management, extracting and organizing key terms, clauses, and renewal options, even for complex leases involving multi-aircraft agreements or bundled facility services. For airlines managing leases across aircraft, hangars, maintenance sites, or terminal space, AI Document Abstraction centralizes all lease-related data, eliminating manual tracking and ensuring that key commitments are never missed. This supports accuracy, efficiency, and compliance with lease obligations and accounting standards. 

Management of critical dates, areas, and clauses. Nakisa enables airline lease teams to efficiently track and manage critical milestones such as aircraft lease renewals, gate space extensions, facility closures, or reassessments of underutilized lounges. Nakisa supports management of multiple zones within a single contract—such as check-in counters, lounges, maintenance hangars, or baggage facilities—each with different square footage and rent per square foot, allowing precise tracking of associated costs and operational responsibilities without splitting contracts. 

Automated email alerts and in-app notifications prevent missed deadlines or unplanned renewals. Custom workflows engage legal, finance, and operations teams throughout review process, while clear visibility into upcoming payments, both lease and non-lease supports accurate forecasting and budgeting across asset types, geographies, and functional areas. 

Nakisa helps airlines track renewals, facility areas, and key lease milestones with configurable alerts and reminders.

Scenario modeling and strategic budgeting. Nakisa’s scenario modeling functionality helps airline finance and fleet teams simulate various lease strategies, such as extending dry leases, early termination of maintenance agreements, or comparing terminal lease costs across airports. These simulations guide data-driven decisions and improve negotiation outcomes. Airlines can model cash flow projections, assess market conditions, and align lease decisions with network strategy, capacity planning, or cost-reduction initiatives. 

Mass lease event management. For changes affecting multiple leases, whether extending engine leases, terminating office spaces, or applying CPI adjustments, Nakisa facilitates bulk updates across portfolios. This capability ensures consistency, reduces administrative overhead, and accelerates portfolio-wide change management. 

Streamlined lease recalculation and adjustment. Nakisa automatically recalculates lease liabilities and right-of-use assets following reassessments, whether due to early aircraft lease terminations, updated lease crew accommodation terms, or lounge rent changes, ensuring accuracy and consistency. Disclosure reports further support compliance throughout the lease lifecycle, from initiation to reassessment and beyond. 

Automated month-to-month contract extension. For assets like baggage systems or shared terminal counters where long-term plans may be uncertain, Nakisa enables automated month-to-month lease renewals. This feature can be configured during lease setup or post-contract versioning, ensuring operational continuity without immediate renegotiation, offering flexibility while maintaining accurate accounting treatment. 

Automated accounting compliance check. Nakisa includes built-in compliance checks for IFRS 16 and ASC 842, ensuring that every reassessment—whether for an aircraft lease extension, CPI-based rent change, or lounge termination—is fully aligned with regulatory requirements. The platform’s impairment testing features are particularly useful for identifying underperforming assets, such as low-traffic terminals or routes, and making timely adjustments. Retroactive modifications are supported, allowing accurate accounting for changes in closed periods to facilitate audits. 

Nakisa’s ability to manage complex lease structures, covering aircraft, terminals, maintenance facilities, and ground equipment, reduces administrative effort, prevents unexpected cost escalations, and supports strategic decision-making. With centralized data, automated workflows, and built-in compliance tools, Nakisa empowers airlines to optimize their lease portfolios while ensuring operational continuity and financial accuracy. 

Challenge 11: Ensuring compliance with IFRS 16, ASC 842, and local GAAP

For global airlines, maintaining strict compliance with IFRS 16, ASC 842, and relevant local GAAP is essential yet highly intricate. These regulations require precise lease classification, measurement, recognition, and disclosure, particularly challenging given the broad range of leased assets and diverse global portfolios. 

Key compliance challenges include: 

• Accurate lease classification. Airlines must accurately differentiate between finance and operating leases—a task complicated by complex lease agreements, embedded lease components, and layered payment structures often found in airport leases and service contracts. Incorrect classification can distort financial reporting, trigger regulatory investigation, and damage an airline’s reputation. 
• Distinction between lease and non-lease components. Aviation leases often bundle both lease and non-lease elements, such as maintenance obligations, security services, or airport fees. Proper segregation of these components is crucial for precise recognition of right-of-use (ROU) assets and associated lease liabilities, in line with accounting standards. 
• Centralized, reliable lease data. Managing leases across multiple global airports and legal jurisdictions requires a unified, accurate data foundation. Incomplete or scattered lease data increases compliance risks, especially during audits, where clarity and data traceability are vital. 
• Transparent financial reporting and disclosures. Under IFRS 16 and ASC 842, most leases must be recorded on the balance sheet, with recognition of ROU assets and lease liabilities at commencement. Airlines must also provide detailed disclosures, including maturity schedules, expense breakdowns, discount rate assumptions, and descriptions of significant leasing arrangements. 
• Managing changes in lease terms. Lease modifications, extensions, and terminations are common in aviation due to shifting business needs, regulation changes, or renegotiated contracts. Each adjustment requires timely reassessment of ROU assets and lease liabilities to maintain financial accuracy and compliance. Failing to reflect these changes accurately can result in significant misstatements and audit findings. 

How Nakisa ensures accounting standards compliance for airlines

Nakisa equips airlines with an enterprise-grade solution built to handle the complexities of compliance with IFRS 16, ASC 842, and local GAAP standards. Its robust capabilities simplify compliance while enhancing operational precision and financial reliability. 

• Parallel compliance with IFRS 16, ASC 842, and local GAAP. Nakisa allows for concurrent management of lease portfolios under different accounting frameworks, enabling full regulatory compliance without redundant processes. The system automates ROU asset and lease liability calculations, ensures accurate lease classification, and delivers disclosure reports tailored to each accounting standard.  
• Flexible management of lease and non-lease components. Nakisa empowers airlines to define and separate lease and non-lease elements based on their operational requirements. This functionality is crucial for bundled charges such as maintenance, utilities, and security services often found within airport leasing contracts. 
• Granular, asset-level accounting. Every leased asset is individually tracked through its entire lifecycle, including modifications, extensions, and terminations. This detailed tracking supports accurate valuation, amortization, and reporting to ensure audit readiness and ongoing compliance. 
• Configurable, audit-ready reporting. Nakisa delivers comprehensive reports for both compliance and internal analysis. Airlines gain access to standard financial statements like income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow reports, in addition to disclosures such as asset roll forwards, lease liability schedules, and maturity analyses. Built-in forecasting tools assist with proactive lease strategy planning. 
• Dynamic event management for lease changes. Nakisa automates lease reassessment and recalculation in response to modifications, renewals, or terminations. Lease terms are updated instantly, maintaining accurate ROU asset and liability balances. A thorough built-in audit trail further enhances transparency and minimizes reporting risks. 

By implementing Nakisa, airlines can effectively address the challenges of global lease compliance. The platform supports finance teams in maintaining precision, improving workflows, and providing transparent reporting, facilitating full adherence to IFRS 16, ASC 842, and local GAAP requirements. 

Challenge 12: Managing third-party vendors and multi-vendor invoicing

Global airlines face significant challenges when managing third-party relationships across their leased facilities, airport gates, hangars, and operational infrastructure. Beyond coordination with airport authorities and lessors, airlines must work closely with a wide range of external service providers, including ground handling companies, maintenance teams, security contractors, and cleaning crews. Effective vendor collaboration is critical to maintaining service standards, reducing operational delays, and controlling costs. 

Manually tracking and reconciliation of payments across multiple vendors and locations add a high risk of errors, payment delays, and disputes. A lack of centralized visibility also makes it difficult to ensure adherence to lease terms, service agreements, and local regulatory requirements. From a finance perspective, airlines must maintain accurate records of recurring and ad-hoc charges, monitor cash flow, and ensure timely payments to avoid service disruptions, late fees, or strained vendor relationships. Shared expenses, such as terminal maintenance costs, utilities, and airport-imposed fees, require careful reconciliation per lease agreements. Inaccurate or inconsistent tracking can result in billing disputes and expose the airline to compliance risks. Airlines are further challenged by seasonal demand fluctuations, variable revenue cycles, foreign currency volatility, which can result in delayed payments and strained relationships with lessors, airports, or service providers. These delays not only impact on cash flow but can also affect future contract negotiations. 

Operationally, limited visibility into service delivery or vendor performance at terminals, hangars, and off-site facilities can lead to inefficiencies and missed KPIs. Delays in resolving service issues may impact turnaround times and ground operations. Communication gaps between internal teams and third-party providers further exacerbate delays and cost overruns. 

Vendor risk management is equally important. Airlines must evaluate vendor performance, confirm financial stability, and verify certifications such as insurance, safety training, or airside access authorization. Regular reviews and up-to-date documentation are necessary to mitigate service disruptions and maintain regulatory compliance. 

As airline operations scale across more airports and jurisdictions, the complexity of third-party and landlord management increases. Monitoring contractor performance across regions, enforcing contract terms, and tracking hundreds of agreements require structured systems to maintain service quality and ensure financial accuracy. To address these challenges effectively, airlines need a centralized vendor management system that provides full performance visibility, automates invoicing and contract compliance, and streamlines collaboration with third-party vendors and landlords. 

How Nakisa simplifies third-party management and invoicing for airlines

Nakisa IWMS provides airlines with numerous features to optimize the management of third-party and landlord across their operations. The solution facilitates seamless coordination with airport landlords, lease co-tenants, aircraft service vendors, and infrastructure contractors.  

Central to this functionality is the Partner Portal, a centralized directory of all external partners, including contact details, service records, past interactions, and vendor performance scores. The built-in invoice management enables vendors to securely upload invoices that are automatically validated against contract terms, ensuring charges are consistent with lease agreements or service contracts. This is especially useful in reconciling shared costs such as terminal services, utilities, landing or gate fees, and maintenance charges.  

With clear tracking of all payments, invoices, and supporting documents, airlines can easily link each payment with its associated lease or service agreement. Nakisa also seamlessly integrates with general ledger (GL) and ERP systems, ensuring accurate data synchronization between Nakisa and the airline’s broader finance systems. 

The system supports complex invoicing scenarios, including multi-vendor invoicing, multiple currencies, and different financial calendars. Airlines can also manage bulk payments and benefit from audit-ready tracking to maintain financial oversight and ensure timely payments. This helps avoid late fees, strengthen vendor relationships, and improve internal accountability. 

By providing automation, visibility, and centralized control, Nakisa IWMS helps airlines streamline third-party and landlord management. This reduces operational complexity, minimizes risk, and ensures better service delivery across their network of leased and shared assets. 

Challenge 13: Enhancing facility and asset management in the airline industry

Maintaining aviation facilities in optimal condition is essential to avoiding operational disruptions, safety risks, and regulatory penalties. Unplanned equipment failures, deferred maintenance, or missed inspections can lead to increased downtime, higher costs, and compliance issues. For global airlines, the complexity of managing leased and shared-use airport infrastructure, including terminals, hangars, ground support equipment, and maintenance areas, demands close coordination, especially when operating under strict SLAs and within restricted-access environments.  

Centralizing facility and asset data across airline operations

Airlines operate across a vast and complex network of airports, hangars, ground support equipment (GSE), leased facilities, and service areas, each with distinct maintenance requirements, regulatory standards, and financial constraints. A major challenge lies in consolidating asset records, maintenance service tickets, inspection reports, and facility-related data, which often reside in fragmented, disconnected systems spanning technical operations, real estate, finance, and maintenance management. 

Without a centralized data management solution, inconsistencies and gaps increase the risk of maintenance delays, regulatory noncompliance, unplanned downtime, and avoidable costs. Inaccurate records, particularly for aircraft, critical GSE, and leased assets, can lead to complications during lease renewals or terminations, hinder timely repairs, or create disputes with lessors and regulators. 

Adding to the complexity is the need to reconcile financial information, covering maintenance expenses, inspections, and depreciation across multiple operational sites and financial systems. Without unified oversight, airlines lack clear visibility into the true performance, cost, and utilization of their facilities and assets, leading to suboptimal investment decisions and operational risks.  

How Nakisa IWMS centralizes facility and asset management

Nakisa IWMS, through its Facility Management Suite, provides a single source of truth for managing assets and facilities across an airline’s global footprint. It supports complete visibility into the entire lifecycle of physical assets, linking data from acquisition to inspections and maintenance. 

Through its centralized asset register, Nakisa allows facility managers to track critical information for all their assets—including condition, location, maintenance history, downtime, performance metrics, vendor or lessor details, and compliance documentation. Linked documentation such as lease agreements, inspection reports, warranties, and manuals are linked directly to each asset or facility, ensuring a comprehensive and accessible historical record. 

Facility managers can also efficiently oversee inventory management by monitoring parts usage and planning timely replenishments, helping avoid operational delays and minimize asset downtime. 

Nakisa IWMS gives airlines full visibility into facility assets and maintenance history, streamlining operations globally.

Optimizing maintenance, inspections, and work order management

In the airline industry, balancing preventive and reactive maintenance is essential to ensure safety, regulatory compliance, and uninterrupted operations. Airlines must manage maintenance for a diverse range of assets, including leased gates, baggage handling systems, ground support equipment (GSE), passenger boarding bridges, and fleet vehicles, each requiring timely and prioritized attention based on urgency, regulatory mandates, and operational impact. 

Efficient work order management is essential for assigning maintenance tasks either to internal technical teams or external service providers. Airlines need systems that provide real-time monitoring of task statuses, track technician performance, and ensure work completion aligns with service level agreements (SLAs). Without a centralized, structured work order system, airlines struggle to prioritize repairs, coordinate schedules, and resolve maintenance needs efficiently across geographically dispersed airport facilities, often operating under restricted-access and complex logistics. 

A robust maintenance management system enables airlines to address urgent repairs immediately, while scheduling routine inspections and preventative maintenance to reduce costly equipment failures. Scheduled inspections are essential for maintaining compliance with aviation authorities such as the FAA, EASA, and IATA. Missing inspection windows, especially for airworthiness-critical components like life-limited parts (LLP) and hard time (HT) items, can result in regulatory violations, increased risk exposure, and operational disruptions. 

Managing leased facilities compounds complexity, as compliance with lease-specific maintenance and inspection conditions is mandatory to avoid penalties or disputes. This includes jet bridges, passenger processing equipment, and GSE, where delays or inaccuracies in maintenance tracking can jeopardize operational readiness and financial stewardship.  

To succeed, airlines must integrate their maintenance management systems with other internal platforms, such as ERP, asset management, and finance systems, and external aviation data sources, including regulatory updates and manufacturer service bulletins. This integration streamlines work order creation, execution, and reporting, enhances compliance tracking, and improves responsiveness to dynamic operational changes such as route expansion or seasonal variations.  

Without these capabilities, airlines risk inefficiencies in tracking work orders, coordinating vendors across time zones, and maintaining compliance in safety-critical environments, challenges that can lead to unplanned downtime, elevated costs, and compromised safety. 

How Nakisa IWMS supports maintenance and work order management

Nakisa Facility Management streamlines both scheduled and reactive maintenance with a robust work order system and advanced inspection capabilities. Key functionalities include:

• Scheduled maintenance: Facility managers can automate recurring work orders based on defined timeframes, ensuring timely inspections to prevent failures.  
• Reactive maintenance: For unplanned repairs, managers can log work orders with priority levels, track estimated vs. actual repair costs and document all repair activities. Post-repair inspections and part tracking provide thorough oversight and accountability. 
• Integrated work orders: Work orders are linked directly to asset records, enabling centralized oversight of all maintenance activities. Nakisa allows for grouping and managing complex maintenance projects, supported by in-app and email notifications to keep stakeholders informed and aligned. 

With integrated work orders, Nakisa helps airlines manage maintenance activities efficiently and keep teams aligned.

• Configurable inspections: Nakisa offers configurable inspection tools tailored to aviation safety and operational standards. Facility managers can create region-specific inspection templates and link inspection items from the asset register to check asset condition.  
• AI-driven inspection creation: Nakisa AI Agent for inspection can assist in creating comprehensive inspection checklists and task lists using plain language prompts. Inspections can trigger immediate work orders for critical findings, helping teams address issues proactively before they escalate into costly failures or regulatory non-compliance. 

Fostering internal and external collaboration for airline facility maintenance

Effective communication and coordination among internal departments, cross-functional teams, and external vendors are critical to managing maintenance activities across airport terminals, leased hangars, airside operations, and other aviation facilities. Airlines operate in complex environments with geographically dispersed assets and diverse stakeholder groups, where information silos caused by disconnected systems and manual processes create operational risk. 

Maintenance teams, airport facility managers, technical specialists, lead administrators, and third-party service providers often rely on separate platforms, email threads, or offline workflows, which can delay maintenance approvals, reduce responsiveness to urgent issues, escalate operational costs, and jeopardize compliance with stringent aviation safety standards and lease agreements.  

For airlines, fostering a centralized and integrated communication framework is essential to: 

• Provide real-time visibility into work order status and maintenance schedules across all sites. 
• Ensure seamless handoffs and coordinated action between internal engineering teams and external contractors. 
• Maintain audit trails and documentation required for regulatory compliance with aviation authorities such as FAA, EASA, and local airport governing bodies. 
• Enable prompt escalation and resolution of maintenance issues to minimize. aircraft turnaround delays, reduce downtime of critical GSE, and avoid penalties tied to lease obligations. 
• Support decision-making with consolidated data that combines operational, financial, and regulatory insights. 

By breaking down communication silos and enabling cross-functional collaboration through unified digital platforms, integrated with asset management, maintenance, and facility management systems, airlines improve maintenance efficiency, reduce risk, and uphold the high safety and operational standards demanded by the aviation industry.

How Nakisa improves internal and external collaboration for airline facility maintenance

As part of Nakisa IWMS, Nakisa Facility Management eliminates fragmented communication by providing a unified digital platform that connects all internal and external stakeholders involved in maintenance across leased and shared-use airport spaces. 

For internal teams, Nakisa acts as a centralized source of truth. Maintenance personnel, airport operations, and facility managers can collaborate in real time, using shared dashboards, task assignments, comment threads, and the in-app action center. Automated notifications and email reminders keep work orders on track, preventing missed steps throughout the maintenance cycle. 

For external service providers, Nakisa offers a dedicated Partner Portal and integrated invoice management. The Partner Portal serves as a centralized directory of third-party vendors, featuring collaboration history, contractor performance data, and a full view of recurring and one-time payments. Vendors can upload documentation, submit invoices, and communicate directly through the portal, streamlining interactions and maintaining transparency in service agreements. This structure gives airline facility teams full visibility into service quality, enabling precise comparison of estimated vs. actual costs and confident invoice approval or rejection. 

This setup simplifies vendor relationship management, enhances accountability, and provides audit-ready records for regulatory compliance and lease return requirements. 

By integrating with enterprise systems and centralizing all maintenance-related communication, Nakisa reduces miscommunication risks, accelerates response times, and helps ensure safer, more efficient operations across aviation facilities, while supporting audits and continuous improvement initiatives. 

Integrating real estate and financial systems 

For airlines, seamless integration of facility management, maintenance, and work order management systems with broader enterprise solutions such as ERP, financial management, and real estate management platforms in crucial but remains a significant challenge. Disconnected and fragmented systems across airport locations, hangars, lounges, and support facilities often create data silos, resulting in delayed updates, inconsistencies between departments, and hindered timely decision-making. This can lead to increased costs, extended downtime of critical assets and leased facilities, disrupting both staff productivity and passenger experience.  

A unified integration ensures that real estate and fleet performance data, maintenance work orders, and financial information, including lease management and capital expenditures, are aligned in real time, providing a comprehensive, single source of truth across airline’s operational footprint, which facilitates compliance with complex regulatory and lease requirements by providing up-to-date visibility into asset conditions and associated financial commitments. 

How Nakisa IWMS ensures seamless integration for airline real estate and facility teams 

Nakisa IWMS offers a fully integrated approach, starting with real estate and asset portfolio platforms and extending into broader enterprise solutions such as ERP and airline operation systems. 

Integration within the Nakisa ecosystem. Nakisa Facility Management, as part of the Nakisa IWMS Portfolio, integrates seamlessly with Portfolio Management and Lease Accounting modules. This ensures real-time data sharing between teams managing leases, assets, and facility operations. For example, assets linked to lease agreements can be automatically reflected in the maintenance system, reducing duplication and enabling coordinated repairs, inspections, and compliance activities. 

APIs, IoT, and third-party system integration. Nakisa supports IoT integration for real-time updates on equipment performance, usage patterns, and potential failures. This enables predictive maintenance strategies that reduce downtime and repair costs. Robust APIs allow direct connections to third-party systems such as aviation-specific operations platforms, giving airlines flexibility to tailor and extend IWMS capabilities. 

Integration with ERP and financial systems. Nakisa’s native, bidirectional integration with major ERP systems like SAP, Oracle, and Workday synchronize financial data, asset records, and work orders. This eliminates manual entry, ensures accurate reporting, maintains compliance, and enables faster processing of work orders and reconciliation of invoices, budgets, and compliance filings. 

This fully integrated approach connects capital project oversight, asset lifecycle maintenance, financial planning, and facility management into a single platform. For airlines, that means improved data accuracy, stronger cross-team collaboration, reduced risk of non-compliance, and more informed, timely decision-making. 

These are some of the key challenges airlines face when managing their airport facilities, leased spaces, and operational assets. Another growing area of focus is energy management, which plays a crucial role in optimizing both lease operations and facility performance. The next section explores this in more detail. 

Optimizing and long-term support

As airlines move beyond day-to-day operations and lease oversight, the focus shifts to sustained optimization and efficiency. This is critical in an industry defined by thin profit margins and constant exposure to geopolitical volatility, fluctuating fuel prices, and evolving regulations. In such a fast-moving, high-pressure environment, long-term operational excellence must go hand in hand with agility, flexibility, and real-time decision-making.  

Key priorities at this stage include establishing a unified data hub for comprehensive reporting and analytics, optimizing space utilization and energy management, and integrating IoT and smart infrastructure within airport environments. These efforts enhance operational efficiency, resilience, and overall passenger experience. 

Challenge 14: Using data-driven insights to support airline growth

Airlines often struggle to make timely, data-driven decisions due to the complexity of managing diverse airport facilities, maintenance operations, leases, and infrastructure projects across multiple geographies. Each site or asset carries unique financial, operational, and regulatory data, complicating efforts to consolidate information and extract clear, actionable insights.  

Below, we outline key data-related challenges and how Nakisa supports the airline industry in solving them. 

Ensuring data quality, consistency, and integration across operations 

For global airlines, maintaining consistent and high-quality data across hubs is a significant challenge. Data entry practices often vary by airport or region, leading to duplicate records, missing information, and inconsistent formats that undermine reporting reliability and informed decision-making. 

Many airlines still rely on siloed legacy systems that lack integration between departments such as real estate, maintenance, operations, and finance. This fragmentation prevents the creation of a unified operational view, while manual data reconciliation between systems not only consumes time but also increases human error and reduces agility. 

Additionally, differing regulatory requirements, tax frameworks, and reporting standards across jurisdictions complicate data harmonization. For instance, maintenance records or cost structures may be logged differently across locations, creating challenges in performance tracking and KPI comparison. These inconsistencies create roadblocks to achieving a single source of truth for the entire portfolio and delay strategic planning. 

To overcome these challenges, airlines must find ways to standardize data governance globally, eliminate redundancy, integrate disparate systems, ensure that every stakeholder, from airport operations to finance, works from the same reliable information base, and implement automation to proactively maintain data quality. Building transparency and trust in data enables advanced capabilities like predictive maintenance and demand forecasting. 

How Nakisa IWMS centralizes and standardizes airline data 

Nakisa IWMS serves as a unified system of record for real estate, airport facilities, infrastructure, maintenance operations, capital projects, and finance. Through native bidirectional integration with ERP platforms like SAP, Oracle, and Workday, along with robust APIs and built-in product-to-product integrations, Nakisa eliminates silos and enables seamless data exchange. This centralization reduces duplication, improves accuracy, and establishes a trusted source of truth across all teams. 

For airlines, this approach enables: 

• Capital projects. Aligning airline infrastructure and fleet-related investments with budgets and long-term strategies. 
• Portfolio management. Tracking and optimizing leased and owned airport properties with full financial transparency. 
• Lease accounting. Ensuring compliance with IFRS 16, ASC 842, and local GAAP standards while integrating financial and operational data 
• Facility management. Coordinating maintenance, inspections, and asset lifecycle management to maintain safety, regulatory compliance, and operational readiness. 

By connecting these functions, Nakisa IWMS gives project managers, facility teams, real estate and finance leaders, and executives a real-time view of performance, supporting faster decisions, more accurate forecasting, and optimized resource allocation. 

What’s more, Nakisa offers Nakisa Decision Intelligence (NDI), an AI-first solution that enhances strategic decision-making and execution across airline operations. NDI unifies, interprets, and analyzes vast internal and external data in real time. Airlines are not limited to internal data sets: they can benchmark performance against the market and seize opportunities proactively. Leveraging this centralized data, NDI runs forecasts, simulations, and scenario analyses to deliver tailored, actionable recommendations. By embedding NDI within Nakisa IWMS, airlines not only centralize and integrate all necessary data in a secure, scalable environment but also gain intelligent insights and guidance. 

Managing historical data migration and system transition for airlines 

Migrating historical data across different enterprise systems presents a major challenge for airlines, particularly in preserving data integrity, context, and compliance. Legacy platforms often house operational, financial, and lease data in many formats and structures, complicating standardization during migration. Without meticulous processes, airlines risk losing key information, introducing errors, or compromising data quality, all of which can disrupt decision-making and regulatory reporting. 

Beyond accuracy, preserving the context of historical data is essential. For airlines, this includes aircraft lease amendments, terminal usage agreements, service contracts, or maintenance records that contain important financial and compliance details. Losing contextual links during migration can negatively affect future planning, audits, and contract negotiations. Moreover, given the global nature of airline operations, data must comply with international and regional regulations throughout the transition. 

To mitigate these risks, airlines need a comprehensive strategy that ensures a smooth data transfer of historical data while maintaining accuracy, traceability, and regulatory compliance. A well-executed migration helps maintain trust in the new system and supports long-term efficiency in capital planning, operations, and finance. Leveraging advanced migration frameworks and partnering with experienced providers can significantly enhance migration success. 

How Nakisa IWMS streamlines data migration and change management for airlines 

With over two decades of experience supporting enterprise clients, Nakisa helps airlines seamlessly transition to cloud-native solutions through expert change management, user training, and robust migration tools. 

Secure data import and compliance: Nakisa’s comprehensive data import functionality allows airlines to securely migrate historical records while ensuring compliance with aviation and international regulatory standards. For added flexibility, the platform allows clients to upload historical documents, such as disclosure reports, service agreements, or lease amendments, covering periods before the cutover date. These files are stored with full audit details, including user activity and timestamps, for traceability and future reference. 

Document handling and tagging. The platform supports multiple file formats, including PDF, Excel, and Word, without requiring formatting. Each tile is enriched with metadata, such as aircraft registration, terminal location, or contract type, so teams can easily filter, track, and retrieve records.  

Bulk uploads through APIs. For larger datasets like fleet lease terms, terminal usage tools, or maintenance logs, Nakisa provides robust API tools for high-volume uploads. These integrations preserve metadata integrity, maintain system performance, and reduce manual effort across global airline operations. 

Governance and oversight. Features such as migration flags enable finance and project teams to quickly identify imported leases or capital projects, simplifying batch processing and reporting while reducing errors across large data sets.  

Expert advisory. Nakisa’s industry specialists work directly with airline clients throughout the transition, drawing on deep expertise in lease standards, operations, and global compliance frameworks. Their tailored guidance allows airlines to move away from legacy systems with confidence, knowing their historical data remains intact, accessible, and fully integrated into Nakisa IWMS. 

By combining advanced migration tools, automated governance, and aviation expertise, Nakisa IWMS enables airlines to retire from legacy systems confidently, ensuring historical data remains intact, auditable, and fully integrated across the enterprise. The result is a smooth transition that minimizes operational disruption and positions airlines for scalable, compliant growth. 

Enhancing real-time analytics and market responsiveness for global airlines 

Access to real-time analytics is vital for optimizing airline portfolios but requires advanced tools capable of consolidating diverse data sources, such as maintenance systems, scheduling software, lease accounting platforms, and facility management solutions. Traditional reporting methods often lack the flexibility for ad-hoc analysis, leaving airline teams unable to respond quickly to fluctuating market demand, fuel price volatility, or geopolitical disruptions. 

Without centralized dashboards featuring configurable filters that handle multi-currency and multi-language datasets, airlines struggle to track key performance indicators or make informed decisions across portfolio, contract, leases, and assets. This limited visibility leads to inefficiencies, missed opportunities, and reactive decision-making, all detrimental in ultra-competitive, thin-margin industry where speed and agility are critical. 

The challenge is compounded by aviation-specific complexities, such as aligning terminal or hangar performance with shifting passenger trends, adapting lease terms to evolving airport regulations, and assessing the financial impact of renewing or terminating location-specific contracts. 

To overcome these challenges, leading airlines are investing in integrated, real-time data infrastructures that unify disparate operational, financial, and regulatory data streams and deliver dynamic, configurable dashboard and AI-powered analytics. These systems enable airlines to move beyond reactive reporting to proactive decision-making and predictive insights—such as proactive maintenance scheduling and dynamic modeling of the financial impact of lease renewals and contract adjustments—resulting in reduced delays, cost savings, and enhanced passenger experience.  

How Nakisa supports airlines with real-time insights 

Nakisa goes beyond traditional dashboarding and analytics by offering Nakisa Decision Intelligence (NDI), an agentic AI platform that redefines how airlines transforms data into real-time, confident decisions. Built to serve as the intelligence layer for global airline operations, NDI transforms complex datasets across any system into real-time, context-aware, and actionable insights, all through natural language prompts (text or voice). While Nakisa IWMS centralizes and integrates data across capital projects, real estate portfolios, facilities, fleet, and assets, NDI elevates this foundation by incorporating any external and internal datasets. It provides advanced predictive analytics and expert, tailored recommendations that go far beyond the capabilities of static dashboards.  

Conversational, AI-driven interface. NDI offers a user-friendly interface requiring no coding, or prior training, or technical expertise. Users can interact with the system through typed or spoken natural-language queries in any language. Users can run forecasting and simulation scenarios, instantly visualizing potential outcomes to support proactive, data-driven decisions. Dynamic dashboards and reports can also be created and configured directly via the chat interface, with full query history accessible, and graphs or reports exportable as required.  

Integrated internal and external data. NDI unifies and interprets any dataset in real-time, combining operational datasets with external market intelligence. This enables airlines to benchmark performance against competitors and market standards, assess risk factors, and identify optimization opportunities, all while maintaining full data security within their systems. 

Tailored expert recommendations. NDI translates complex analyses and scenario modeling into clear, data-driven recommendations. It provides prioritized actions with transparent rationale, supporting decision-making across functions such as project prioritization and fleet optimization. This functionality allows leadership teams to reduce uncertainty, improve agility, and act on opportunities faster.

Unlimited use cases. NDI supports a broad range of applications without the functional limitations of traditional tools. Users may query any aspect of their real estate and asset data, including risk management, energy and sustainability, capital project oversight, occupancy costs, and operational efficiency. For users new to the platform, predefined questions organized by category provide guidance and facilitate exploration across multiple airline operational scenarios. 

Besides Nakisa Decision Intelligence, Nakisa IWMS is offering traditional robust analytics tools, including: 

Dynamic dashboards and role-based reporting. Airlines gain out-of-the-box dashboards and reports that visualize the entire asset portfolio, from terminals and hangars to leased lounges and office space. These dashboards are configurable and permission-based, enabling users to filter and view relevant metrics based on their role or region. 

Configurable operational insights. Beyond predefined dashboards, airlines can build tailored reports for their specific operational models. Whether it’s monitoring cost per passenger per terminal, analyzing gate turnaround efficiency, or tracking energy consumption across airport facilities, airline teams can configure dashboards to their unique requirements. 

No-code analytics and audit support. With no-code reporting and easy-to-use dashboards, Nakisa democratizes access to performance data. Airline operations, finance, facilities, and executive teams can quickly monitor key metrics, identify risks and opportunities, and prepare for audits without relying on IT. Built-in reports handle complex calculations, such as revenue-sharing agreements and multi-airport lease reconciliations, ensuring consistent, accurate insights across jurisdictions. With Nakisa AI Agent for analytics, teams can analyze and visualize real estate and asset performance even easier than ever before, turning complex data into actionable insights with speed and precision. 

By combining centralized data, no-code reporting, and embedded AI, Nakisa IWMS empowers airline teams, from finance to operations, facilities, and executives, to act on insights faster, reduce risk, and improve long-term asset performance. Airlines gain not just visibility but also intelligence, turning complex operational data into actionable, real-time decisions.  

Ensuring security and compliance in airline IT systems 

In the airline industry, real-time decision-making must be rigorously balanced with stringent regulatory requirements such as data privacy laws, aviation safety standards, and IT governance protocols. Security is paramount in this high-risk, highly regulated environment, and ensuring secure access to data is non-negotiable for protecting operations, regulatory compliance, and passengers. 

Transitioning to a data-driven culture across geographically dispersed teams brings additional organizational challenges. Airlines operate across multiple time zones, with teams having diverse workflows and varying levels of digital maturity. Aligning all stakeholders around a consistent and trusted system of record is essential to maintain data integrity and accountability. Additionally, the quality and cost of data can differ significantly by airport or country due to local infrastructure, regulatory environments, and operational practices. This variability requires robust standardization and integration strategies to enable reliable, unified analytics that inform confident, compliant decision-making across the entire airline portfolio. 

To address these challenges, airlines need to implement comprehensive security frameworks that enforce role-based access to operational, financial, and regulatory data while ensuring compliance with international and regional data privacy regulations (such as GDPR, CCPA), and aviation-specific standards. Achieving organizational alignment around centralized data governance policies, supported by training that fosters a culture of data stewardship, is equally important. This must be paired with the standardization of data formats and processes across regions, ensuring that all functions operate from a single, consistent source of truth. Leveraging secure platforms with encrypted data transmission, built-in audit trails, and continuous monitoring further protects information integrity while enabling swift detection and response to potential incidents. 

How Nakisa IWMS ensures enterprise-grade data security and global compliance 

Nakisa IWMS is built on a secure, cloud-native infrastructure that protects sensitive airline data throughout its lifecycle. Data in transit is encrypted via secure tunnels, while data at rest is protected on trusted platforms such as Amazon AWS and Microsoft Azure. Access is tightly controlled through role-based permissions, access control lists, and SSO integration, while virtual private cloud firewalls help reduce exposure to threats. 

To support audit readiness and compliance, Nakisa undergoes regular third-party audits for SOC 1, SOC 2, and ISO certifications. The system is GDPR-ready and compliant with IT General Control (ITGC) requirements, ensuring that global airline operations stay aligned with evolving international data protection and regulatory standards. 

Challenge 15: Meeting energy efficiency and sustainability goals for airlines

Meeting sustainability goals is a critical strategic priority for airlines due to rising fuel and utility costs, increasing regulatory scrutiny, and growing expectations from airport authorities and passengers to reduce environmental impact Failure to comply with environmental standards can result in fines, legal issues, and significant reputational damage. 

Effective energy management involves meticulously tracking consumption across terminals, hangars, and other airport facilities, identifying inefficiencies, and implementing sustainable operational practices. This is particularly challenging for airlines with operations at multiple airports, where energy consumption patterns, local climate conditions, and regulatory frameworks can vary significantly.  

The aviation industry is heavily focused on near-term efficiency improvements while simultaneously advancing ambitious climate targets such as net-zero emissions by 2050. This requires balancing environmental responsibility with cost control and passenger expectations around climate action. Key strategies include fleet renewal, investment in sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), infrastructure and operational efficiency enhancements, and adherence to emerging regulations like the EU’s SAF mandates that target increased blending percentages starting in 2025. 

Operationally, airlines must centralize energy usage data and sustainability metrics, benchmarking performance across their real estate and facilities portfolio to identify inefficiencies and target reductions in Co2 emissions. Advanced platforms enable this by providing real-time tracking, energy consumption analytics, emission calculations, and reporting functions that support both regulatory compliance and corporate sustainability goals.  

How Nakisa IWMS helps airlines optimize energy usage 

Nakisa IWMS provides airlines with the tools to monitor and manage energy consumption across their real estate and facility portfolios. The system tracks water, gas, electricity, and waste usage and converts that data into CO2 emissions to offer a clear view of the environmental impact at each location. 

By centralizing this data on one platform, Nakisa helps airline facility and sustainability teams identify inefficiencies, benchmark performance, and set measurable environmental goals. Airlines can implement energy-saving strategies, monitor their effectiveness in real-time, and make data-driven decisions to reduce emissions and costs. This approach not only improves operational efficiency but also ensures compliance with global environmental standards and supports broader ESG commitments. 

Nakisa IWMS enables airlines to monitor energy consumption, reduce emissions, and achieve sustainability targets across facilities.

Conclusion: transforming asset and facility management for global airlines with Nakisa IWMS

 
As this guide has shown, global airlines face significant challenges in planning, managing, and optimizing their extensive, capital-intensive infrastructure across multiple locations. Balancing operational efficiency with broader strategic objectives, while remaining agile amid geopolitical shifts and fluctuating fuel costs, can strain even the most skilled teams. 

Cloud-native, AI-powered IWMS solutions like Nakisa IWMS are built to meet these complex demands. Nakisa centralizes and streamlines essential business processes, including capital project planning, budgeting, site selection, contract management, payment processing, lease accounting, facility maintenance, and sustainability tracking. With AI-driven automation and enhanced visibility, airlines can better optimize costs across global operations and confidently forecast future needs and trends. These capabilities empower them to plan proactively for strategic growth and quickly adapt to changing market conditions. 

As the airline industry continues to evolve under pressure of thin margins and regulatory changes, adopting an advanced IWMS solution is critical for airlines seeking to maximize infrastructure performance and achieve sustainable growth.  

However, not all IWMS platforms offer the same level of functionality and support. Discover how Nakisa IWMS differentiates itself in the market. We invite you to request a personalized demo of our software and learn why leading airlines such as Air France KLM, Delta, Airbus, and Aeromexico rely on Nakisa to effectively manage their complex portfolios.