AILING British Airways has announced a decision to remove Alex Cruz from his position as chief executive.
His place will be taken by Aer Lingus chief Sean Doyle. Cruz, who joined BA in 2916, will stay on as non-executive chairman until Doyle takes the helm.
BA’s recent announcement of 13,000 staff cuts — and resulting union disputes — have been contentious and damaging. The global decline in fortunes for the industry hasn’t helped to brighten prospects. Heathrow has released data showing that passengers travelling through the airport last month were 82 percent down on the same period in 2019.
BA has faced accusations — by unions, staff and politicians — of a fire-and-rehire strategy which has effectively cut the salaries of some workers by up to 50 percent.
The current state of the aviation sector has been evaluated by Luis Gallego, chief executive of IAG (which owns BA) as “the worst crisis faced in our industry”.
Gallego is himself a recent appointee; he took over from Willie Walsh as IAG CEO in September.
