It's an interesting time to start a job as an airline CEO, as British Airways appointed a new CEO in late 2020. The airline will become more premium as a result of the aviation recovery being so slow. Is he just paying lip service?
The CEO of British Airways published a video for employees this morning, intended to show the direction the airline is taking as it continues to recover. He wants to transform British Airways into a premium airline. The Financial Times quotes him as saying that.
“There is room for optimism that we are on the way out. Putting the premium proposition into the heart of what we do is going to be key. We want people to come off a British Airways flight and talk about it as if it’s something different. Any airline can go out and buy products off the shelf and put them on a plane. It’s actually the confidence and the style and the intimacy that we deliver in service that is going to be a differentiator.”
Oh, Hah. I have been coming off British Airways flights for over a decade and have been talking about how different it is.
British Airways has had the same issues for a long time. Ultra low cost carriers and Gulf carriers are 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 It can be difficult to find the right balance between controlling costs and offering a premium product.
British Airways is under scrutiny for its cost cutting measures. British Airways is referred to as a "national disgrace" by politicians in the UK, as well as being owned 25% by Qatar Airways.
“British Airways is the flag carrier of the UK. You remember the motto? ‘To fly, to serve.’ That was not any more the motto of the company. It was only on a billboard.”
British Airways will come back to its glory days, according to Al Baker, who has confidence in the new CEO.
British Airways was already starting to improve its premium passenger experience, at least when it came to pre-pandemic levels. The British Airways Club Suites are a massive improvement to the business class hard product, and on top of that first and business class catering was also starting to improve pre-pandemic.
I don't think British Airways will become a premium airline. British Airways doesn't need to be much more premium, that's partly because I don't think management will invest to make that happen.
It's ironic that British Airways cuts costs because of the style and intimacy with which they deliver, but it's also where the premium will come from. British Airways has been unreasonable in contract negotiations for many years. The airline wants to have employees deliver Singapore Airlines service. That leads to high turnover.
British Airways has some great employees, but they don't have a culture of good service. I don't think the airline is willing to invest in people for that to change.
British Airways doesn't have to be all that expensive. British Airways dominates the slot controlled airport of Heathrow. People pay a premium to fly British Airways because the airline offers the most service from the airport. That is it.
British Airways doesn't like Qatar Airways because the latter has to provide a great product to convince people to connect in Doha when traveling between two other countries. British Airways doesn't have that problem.
British Airways will become more premium as it emerges from the Pandemic, according to the new CEO. This has been a topic of discussion among the management at the airline.
British Airways is improving in a number of ways. Catering was improved and the business class seats are great. That's all about it.
The people are standing in the way of British Airways becoming premium. It's not the fault of the individual employees, but rather the fault of management, for all the bad faith negotiating and cost cutting that has been going on over the years.
Will British Airways become premium?
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