Will British Airways survive?
British Airways has just announced that it will retire all of its aging fleet of Boeing 747s as a consequence of the downturn in business since COVID-19. It is the world’s largest operator of the iconic jumbo jets, with 31 in their fleet.
A sad day for some misty eyed pilots and plane spotters but the reality is these are very old planes which were no longer fit for purpose and should have been consigned to the airplane graveyard a long time ago.
I can’t quite remember the last time I flew on a Jumbo Jet but I think it was to Dallas, Texas a few years back but I have avoided flying on them ever since as it felt like they were held together with some sticky back plastic. I would then choose an airline partly on the plane they were using on the route just to avoid the 747 experience. The plane was a breakthrough at the time, but it is the equivalent to us all driving around in 2020 in another 1970’s icon, the Ford Cortina.
(Yes, mustard was all the rage back then, along with loon pants)
A symbol of under investment where the customer experience played second fiddle to the needs of the ‘bottom line’. The one figure that the bosses at British Airways have only ever been interested in.
British Airways is not having a ‘good Pandemic’.
It is in the middle of a perfect storm. Obviously it cannot be blamed for the consequences of COVID-19 on air travel but the leadership behaviours and the complete disregard it has had towards their own employee and customer experience over many years is coming home to roost.
In previous recent posts I have referred to ‘heroes and villains’ in how companies have behaved during the pandemic. My view is that those with a clear sense of purpose, values and beliefs used those to help them navigate difficult decisions including redundancies. Airbnb being one such example. The ‘villains’ continued to behave in the pandemic much in the same way as they did before.
Back in April, British Airways was first out of the block to talk about redundancies. Some 12,000 in total. Then threatening to fire and re-hire 30,000 of their employees on worse contracts. Earlier this week, the behaviour of British Airways towards its employees were centre stage during Prime Ministers Questions. The new Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer skewered our rather hapless Prime Minister, Boris Johnson saying BA’s treatment of its staff was ‘totally unacceptable’ before reading details of an email sent by the PM to BA staff in June stating that firms must not use furlough to ‘cynically’ change term conditions. Which is precisely what the BA bosses were trying to do.
British Airways does not seem to care a fig about its reputation and personifies the type of narcissistic leadership which leads to a toxic culture at the very time when the majority of employees are looking for care, empathy, love and a sense of humanity from their employers.
Nor do they seem to care about what customers think about the customer experience. The comments on Trustpilot from frustrated customers are legendary with the latest being the difficulty in people getting back cash refunds for flights that have been cancelled preferring to try and fob people off with a combination of exhaustion trying to speak to anyone and vouchers instead of cash.
(To be fair to BA, I did have my upcoming flight to Sicily cancelled. I took to contacting them directly through Twitter and within a very quick Tweet exchange a full refund was agreed including the Avios points I had used in part payment. The money was also back in the account when they said it would be...so they can be on the side of the customer when they want to be. It seems just not very often!)
Will British Airways survive?
Well I hope so. Those who know me or have read my book #thebusinesscaseforlove will know that I am prone to the odd rant about the company. I do this mainly because I care. I used to be very proud of flying British Airways and for a time it really was ‘The Worlds Favourite Airline’.
To do so, the Company needs to get back to its roots and remember how it behaved when it was at its best. This is what CEO, Brian Chesky has just announced at Airbnb as part of a management overhaul.
“If we are going to get back to our roots, we must get back to great hosting”
Steve Jobs said the same thing when he returned to Apple accept he talked about product design and range.
For British Airways the answer is hidden in plain sight. It is on their crest. ‘To Fly. To Serve’.
In doing some research for this article I came across an interview in the December 1995 edition of the Harvest Business with Sir Colin Marshall, the then CEO of British Airways.
To quote:
“Our employees want to be proud of their product and they want to feel that they are making a difference to customers. When competitors surpass our product, and especially when customers tell them so, our employees become upset. They are very vocal in letting management know about such situations. They really are committed to delivering quality. They want to be part of a winning team”.
This is a link to the original article. Read it and weep for what British Airways has become
Let us hope that one day the current bosses will be put out to grass. Just like their ancient 747’s. It is, quite frankly, their only hope.
For those who are interested, my book #thebusinesscaseforlove is now available both as an e-book and a hardback. In it I write about ’best in class’ company and leadership behaviours which I believe are relevant to the challenges of today.
It can be downloaded via #amazon #PalgraveMacmillan and #SpringerNature
?A sample is available on Amazon and a sample of each chapter is available through Palgrave and Springer.
The hardback is now available through Amazon, Palgrave Macmillan and Springer Nature
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Business-Case-Love-Companies-Bragged/dp/3030364259
https://www.palgrave.com/gb/book/9783030364250
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-36426-7