Fort Worth-based Paslay Management Group—a provider Executive Program Management for complex capital development programs, organizational analysis, and enterprise-level business advisory strategies—has announced its merger with Chicago-based Unison Consulting. The merger will create “a stronger, more comprehensive aviation consultancy with a deeper bench of airport business advisory and development experts,” Paslay Group said.

The brings together two of the most trusted aviation consulting firms in the U.S. to offer aviation clients a more robust suite of enterprise-level services that “closes the performance gap” between a capital program’s financial strategy and its operational execution, Paslay Group said.

Founded in 1989, Unison has served more than 100 airport clients across several hundred engagements. The firm has worked with 17 of the 25 busiest U.S. airports, and brings to the merger its financial, concessions, economics, market research, and data analytics services. The firm’s current clients include some of the nation’s busiest hubs, including Chicago O’Hare (ORD) and Los Angeles (LAX) international airports.

Paslay Group Founder and CEO R. Clay Paslay said his firm “has long respected Unison’s reputation for excellence in the airport consulting world and the firm the Drake family has built over the past 37 years.”

“Today,” he added in a statement, “our two firms are choosing collaboration over competition and evolving into a larger firm that provides a more comprehensive enterprise-level service offering for our clients. Our combined team doubles down on our ability to develop custom solutions tailored to fit airport owners’ objectives, constraints, and capabilities.”

Paslay Group marks its 20th anniversary this month

Paslay Group is marking its 20^th anniversary this month. The firm reports serving 50 U.S. airports and managing $51.7 billion in programs since 2006. Paslay created his patented small-team Executive Program Management model for complex capital programs, introducing it to the airport industry in 2007 during Sacramento International Airport’s $1.2 billion Big Build Terminal Modernization Program. 

Over the past three years, Paslay Group says it has assisted airport owners in opening billion-dollar-plus terminal development programs at Kansas City (MCI), Nashville (BNA), and Pittsburgh (PIT) international airports

Yovette Drake, Unison President and sister of founder and Senior EVP Anthony Drake, said the partnership reflects “a strategic alignment of values, capabilities, and long-term vision.”

“By joining the Paslay Group team, we will immediately be able to integrate financial strategy, operational execution, and program leadership for clients across the nation,” she added. “We’re choosing to bring together our strengths to better serve airports and advance the industry.”

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