Case Study: French bee

Helping a Global Airline Move Faster Inside a Complex Drupal Multisite Environment

  • Client: French bee

  • Industry: Aviation / Travel

  • Services: Drupal content migration and accessibility testing

  • Timeline: 6 business days for core content migration

  • Scope: 30+ custom Drupal pages

The Situation

French bee is a global airline headquartered in France, providing non-stop international flights to the United States and other popular destinations worldwide. With à la carte fares and high-tech aircraft, they offer a modern, comfortable travel experience at affordable rates.

The French bee team engaged Kairos to support a new proof-of-concept Drupal website for the United States market. The new experience was designed to run alongside the airline’s existing global website as part of a broader long-term digital initiative.

This project required detailed manual content migration, accessibility testing and remediation, and close coordination across multiple teams working concurrently on the platform. Kairos combined deep Drupal expertise with practical implementation and strategic problem-solving, and established a tailored workflow that kept tasks visible, organized, and moving efficiently.

Content Migration

The new proof-of-concept site was nested within an existing Acquia Site Studio multisite architecture. Working in a shared live environment, Kairos brought the same level of care and precision to this engagement as any production project, moving quickly while ensuring implementation work remained accurate and isolated to the appropriate areas of the platform.

The migration effort included more than 30 pages across various content types, including:

  • a fully custom homepage

  • detailed destination pages

  • long-form services pages

  • legal and policy pages

  • dynamic listing pages

Many of the pages required nested or interactive components like accordions, tabs, or sliders, as opposed to plain WYSIWYG or Rich Text content. Media assets had to be sized and cropped appropriately, then uploaded individually. Some components had multiple layout or configuration options that needed to be applied on a per-page basis, but still remain consistent site-wide.

The editing interface relied on the component-based structure of Acquia Site Studio, but without any visual preview of the page content during editing. Instead, content entry involved configuring containers, rows, and unique settings per component. This approach enabled flexibility for the site layout, but it also required meticulous attention to detail, and an abstract understanding of how these settings translate to front end appearance.

Kairos worked through this structure to maintain:

  • visual consistency

  • responsive behavior across devices

  • accessibility compliance

  • content hierarchy and proper semantic structure

Several pages called for interpreting and adapting content to the available layout system, going beyond a simple copy and paste. Kairos balanced Drupal technicalities with user experience goals to recommend a content presentation that kept pages clear, organized, accessible, and effective for the target audience.

Accessibility Testing

Kairos also conducted accessibility testing across all pages in the proof-of-concept site.

Starting with an initial baseline review of template pages helped identify issues and opportunities early, so the development team could address many items concurrently with the content migration work.

Each individual page was re-checked as its content entry was completed, and a final round of testing was performed across a representative sample of pages, to ensure consistency.

Testing included:

  • semantic structure checks (headings, lists, tables, etc.)

  • automated and heuristic checks (Siteimprove browser extension; Google Lighthouse in Chrome DevTools)

  • keyboard-only navigation (tab order, focus behavior, etc.)

  • link and button labeling clarity and relevance

  • color contrast validation

  • cross-browser and cross-device verification using both physical devices and BrowserStack

Kairos directly remediated issues that could be resolved through content entry, while separately documenting findings that required code changes. Our extensive technical background allowed us to provide clear developer-ready descriptions and recommended fixes, so the French bee development team could prioritize and address them efficiently.

Tailored Project Workflow

Kairos created a customized kanban workflow in Trello, designed specifically around this project’s implementation steps and team communication needs.

The workflow established clear stages for:

  • content preparation

  • implementation readiness

  • active migration work

  • accessibility testing and quality assurance review

  • stakeholder review / user acceptance testing

  • consolidated feedback cycles

  • final approval

  • future follow-up items

This structure reduced unnecessary iteration while giving all teams clear visibility into status, blockers, review needs, and next steps.

The workflow also supported efficient collaboration between Kairos, French bee project management, and the development team working concurrently on the platform itself. Accessibility findings, content entry feedback, and technical questions could all be tracked clearly in one place while work continued moving forward.

“We appreciated how organized and transparent the Kairos process was throughout the project. The Trello workflow made it easy to understand status, communicate in-context, and keep progress moving.”

— Talar Alajajian, Project Manager, French bee

Strategic Guidance

Beyond implementation work, Kairos also provided practical feedback about the hands-on experience of working with the current editing interface.

This engagement reinforced how heavily team efficiency can be shaped by architectural decisions, especially on large-scale, component-driven Drupal websites.

Based on observations made throughout the project, Kairos delivered recommendations related to:

  • improving the day-to-day editing experience for content teams

  • streamlining page construction for faster, more consistent editing

  • strengthening accessibility and content governance practices

  • organizing and documenting editorial workflows for future scalability

  • evaluating alternative Drupal editing approaches and hosting considerations

  • improving long-term maintainability, performance, and search visibility

These recommendations gave French bee actionable insight into how future phases of the global initiative could be structured to improve editorial efficiency, minimize long-term maintenance friction, and support more scalable content operations as the platform evolves.

Results

Kairos completed the core content migration effort within 6 business days, supporting a fast-moving, multi-team Drupal initiative.

The engagement helped French bee:

  • accelerate launch preparation for its United States proof-of-concept website

  • maintain visibility and coordination across teams

  • streamline review and approval cycles

  • identify accessibility improvements early

  • reduce operational burden on internal stakeholders

  • document opportunities for future architecture and process improvements

“Kairos brought a strong combination of Drupal expertise, hands-on execution, and thoughtful problem-solving. They quickly became an extension of our team and helped us keep the project moving forward.”

— Talar Alajajian, Project Manager, French bee

This project demonstrated Kairos’ ability to step into complex Drupal environments, integrate quickly with client teams, and create forward momentum through a combination of technical execution, strategic thinking, and organized project management process.

By helping improve accessibility, editorial consistency, and implementation quality across the proof-of-concept experience, Kairos also helped support a smoother and more inclusive experience for travelers researching destinations, understanding policies, and planning international travel online.

Working on a tricky Drupal project?

Kairos empowers mission-driven organizations to move complex Drupal initiatives forward successfully. Our unique blend of technical expertise, hands-on implementation, and proactive strategic thinking lets us jump in at any stage and partner with your team on tasks such as:

  • large-scale content migration

  • accessibility testing and remediation

  • Drupal architecture and editorial workflows

  • Acquia Site Studio or Layout Paragraphs

  • quality assurance testing and launch support

  • ongoing Drupal maintenance and continuous improvement

You can explore more of our Drupal tips, tricks and insights, or schedule a free consultation with our team to discuss your goals, challenges, and next steps. Let’s move your website forward together!