2024 U.S.-Booked Air Volume: $228 million
Consolidated Global TMC: Amex GBT
BTN estimates consulting firm McKinsey &
Co. reached $228 million in
U.S.-originating air spend,
up considerably from 2024. The New York-based concern focused part of its
travel management energy in 2024 on creating new artificial intelligence-driven
processes for travelers, integrating large language model-based booking
interface Skylink into existing Slack-based workflows. BTN named McKinsey
director of travel and events technology Jamie Stewart as Travel
Manager of the Year for his work on the project, which required
buy-in from long-time travel management company partner American Express Global
Business Travel to collaborate with a startup
to achieve success.
Skylink users have seen their average
booking times reduced
to under two minutes from around 12 minutes previously.
This includes an intuitive process for booking recurring trips in one AI-driven
conversation rather than as separate itineraries in a booking tool. The firm
still uses human agents at Amex GBT, and
Concur serves as its legacy booking tool, but according to a company case study,
more than 20 percent of bookings are now made through the Skylink AI interface,
with 95 percent of users giving the tools a positive rating for experience and
85 percent becoming repeat users.
McKinsey is using the new interface to drive compliant bookings as
well, whether that’s a nudge to book the roundtrip international fare or
possibly to take a train instead of a flight, if the option is available—that
latter nudge will be rolling out in a new Skylink implementation in the U.K. in
the coming weeks. Right now, the tool is balanced to provide convenient,
in-policy itineraries tailored to the individual traveler, and 85 percent of
users are choosing among the first three options presented.
McKinsey additionally has been intent on lowering its carbon
emissions from business travel. In addition to
supporting remote and hybrid working models, strategic local staffing,
web-based and localized recruiting and learning events, and initiatives that
encourage colleagues to use rail travel and electric ground transportation when possible, the
firm introduced a carbon fee for air bookings in 2023.
The firm expanded those fees to
accommodations in 2024 and mentioned in its annual sustainability report that
the firm would be raising the fee over time.
With these measures in place, McKinsey achieved
in 2024 a 50 percent reduction in air and ground
travel-related
emissions (this includes reductions
as a result of purchasing
sustainable aviation fuel and offsets).
The carbon fee,
which is $50 per ton of CO2 equivalent emissions, funds
offset purchases and SAF as part of an overall reduction strategy.
The firm
achieved 50 percent emissions reduction per full-time employee in 2024, beyond
its 35 percent per FTE target.
McKinsey is looking to improve its offset purchasing strategies in
the coming years—moving to 100 percent carbon removal projects by 2030.