BA boss overhauls management after staff shortages and flight cancellations

The boss of British Airways has unveiled an overhaul of key management roles at the airline, as he struggles to deal with a spate of disruption and cancellations to flights that have dented its recovery from the pandemic.

The embattled carrier has put new executives in charge of its operations, technology and customer services, according to two people familiar with the matter, parts of the business that have buckled this year as BA has struggled to cope with the rapid return of passengers.

BA chief executive Sean Doyle said last week that the carrier had been forced to cancel 10 per cent of its flight schedules between March and October — the equivalent of 8,000 round trips — because of staff shortages that are plaguing the travel industry.

EasyJet is also struggling with staff shortages and has taken out the back row of seating on some of its planes, allowing it to fly with three cabin crew instead of four.

But BA has faced its own unique set of problems over high-profile IT failures and customer complaints on other operational issues, notably hours-long waits to get through to its telephone lines.

The leadership changes come 18 months into Doyle’s tenure at BA and represent his clearest response yet to the crisis engulfing the airline.

Anthony Allcock, the airline’s chief information and digital officer, is leaving the company and will be replaced by Dirk John, an external hire, formerly of McKinsey, Latam Airlines and Lufthansa.

John, who is joining as chief digital and transformation officer, will be given the task of fixing BA’s ailing and highly complex IT systems.

Despite significant investment from Anglo-Spanish parent company IAG, the airline’s IT systems are prone to failures that can seriously disrupt flying schedules.

Doyle, who has pledged to restore the airline’s reputation among customers, has also appointed Calum Laming as chief customer officer, replacing Tom Stevens who is leaving the airline.

In addition, the role of chief operating officer has been split in two, with incumbent Jason Mahoney moving to the position of chief technical officer and a new external hire who is yet to be named taking responsibility for day to day operations.

BA confirmed the changes and said the new management positions come as it navigates “an extremely challenging period” after the pandemic.

“Everyone at British Airways is completely focused on three priorities: our customers, supporting the biggest recruitment drive in our history and increasing our operational resilience,” the carrier said.

Speaking last week after IAG’s first-quarter results were overshadowed by the problems facing his airline, Doyle said he was “acutely aware” of the issues. “We are fixing it,” he said.

He added that “for the major part” the issues facing BA were industry-wide, including long waits for staff to pass government vetting processes for new hires and less space at Heathrow airport, which has closed one of its terminals until June.

IAG’s chief executive Luis Gallego, who appointed Doyle as BA boss in October 2020, said he had full confidence that the BA veteran would be able to fix the problems at the airline.