SkyTeam and PA Consulting win sustainability and innovation awards for The Aviation Challenge
Sky Team has triumphed at the 2025 Association for Project Management Awards. The firm took home the prizes for sustainability and innovation in project management, for a project supported by experts from PA Consulting.
The Aviation Challenge (TAC) is a global friendly sustainability competition among airlines and aviation partners to test, scale, and share impactful environmental solutions. Organised by global airline alliance SkyTeam, participants execute showcase flights within their networks, implementing sustainable solutions in real-world setting and scaling them in operations.
In 2024, the programme united 24 airlines to complete 33 showcase flights, achieving over 10% reduction in CO2 intensity compared to their baselines, and 20% against industry standards. More than 140 solutions were successfully scaled beyond testing phases. Helping to realise this collaboration and knowledge sharing, sparking sustainability progress across the aviation industry, a team from PA Consulting provided strategic guidance alongside hands-on industry experience, working closely with SkyTeam and participating airlines to generate ideas that have real world impact on their flights.
Reflecting on the work via PA’s website, TAC Programme Manager Robin Spierings said, “PA played a key role in shaping the challenge design, focusing on categories that supported the development of new solutions for the future of aviation. Their strategic guidance and evaluation of airline’s submissions ensured that the programme was based on a solid, proven approach. Their expertise helped make the initiative practical and impactful.”
Now, the project has been recognised for its impact at the annual Association for Project Management (APM) awards. Taking place at London’s Park Plaza in mid-November, the 2025 ceremony celebrated SkyTeam and PA Consulting’s efforts with the sustainability award, as well as the innovation in project management prize.
Comments from the judges hailed the “imaginative, data-driven and refreshingly collaborative response to transforming how airlines approach sustainability”. They also praised TAC for “combining disciplined project management with open-source collaboration, this initiative represents a bold new model for industry-wide climate action.”
The APM is the chartered body for the project profession, with over 45,000 individual members and more than 400 organisations participating in their Corporate Partnership Programme. Every year, the UK’s association for project management professionals hosts an awards ceremony to recognise and celebrate project teams, individuals and projects from a broad range of sectors over the past 12 months.
As the consulting sector often provides expertise and additional talent to help manage projects at some of the nation’s largest businesses, and government departments, there are regularly APM winners from the professional services world. In 2024, for instance, MIGSO-PCUBED took home prizes for innovation in project management, the technology project of the year, and company of the year. In 2021, meanwhile, P2 Consulting and PA Consulting scooped honours for the contribution to project management for SMEs and innovation in project management categories, respectively.
