Strange comment coming from a non-executive director of Heathrow Airport Holdings whose airport's biggest airline customer is British Airways.

Akbar Al Baker does have previous though for making controversial remarks.

He once described US airlines as 'crap' and that the cabin staffs were all grandmothers. On another occasion he said that Qatar Airways has to have a man in charge because the job is very challenging. He also claimed that part of Singapore's Changi Airport was a direct copy of plans for enhancements at Doha Airport.

He appears to enjoy the limelight. There are other examples of his flamboyant personality.

He does have a point about BA's on-board customer service compared with that of Qatar Airways in that Qatar's is almost universally praised as being one of the best, perhaps the best, in the business.
 
It may be a while before BA even consider SYD and questions will linger about their ability to compete. Thanks to the management style of Mr Cruz and Mr Walsh, BA can no longer compete with the true long-haul service standards of QR, EK, QF and possibly SIA. Certainly not with 777-300.

Mr Al Bakar is the Michael O'Leary of the legacy carriers. Alan Joyce at QF can also be quite vociferous.

The views on Business Traveller of those who hold status makes very interesting reading. Their experiences of the ME3 (Qatar, Emirates, Etihad) far more favourable than BA.

Who knows, the new BA management may have a different attitude to their predecessors....
 
Perhaps it's a more subtle message, because water covers more of the earth than land.

Either way, it will be something different for spotters (and we need it!)
 
They didn't used to, but perhaps there's hope yet!

It was done with indecent haste, but was only bringing forward the inevitable. In the UK we don't seem to bother with farewell flights like other airlines. A topic we've touched on before in Jet2 thread. Qantas very good at giving retired aircraft a good send off.

If BA had given any thought, they could have filled a 747 for a "jaunt" up the coast and back, or out into the Irish Sea like Concorde used to do.
 
Quite so, if Biman can bring a DC10 over to Birmingham for a series of farewell flights, and a poor country it has to be noted, BA could have used some business nous and exploited a 747 for image publicity and BA need to work on it's public image. Bean counters have taken over all that was good.......but that is for another thread maybe!
 
Yes, I'd forgotten about Biman!

Monarch also did, think it was for A330. Please correct me if I'm wrong with type.

As for BA, live more in hope than certainty....
 
BA is a problem child, it is important to the nation but does not grasp how important. In need of careful nurturing and management with intelligence to run a major national asset, privatisation is reversible though hideously expensive.
 
Well Mr Walsh and Mr Cruz certainly didn't get it. Bringing in someone who failed at running a budget carrier (Vueling) a recipe for disaster.

Okay, Lord King and Colin Marshall made a few mistakes but they knew their jobs. Rod Eddington drew positive comments from staff. Mr Ayling not so impressive (not just with Maggie Thatcher!).

The days of running legacy carriers as nationalised entities are long gone, except maybe in third world countries. Two instantly come to mind, where Government control has been disastrous; Alitalia and Cyprus Airways. Two vastly different sized airlines but a common theme in their demise.
 
He long gravitated to the Post Office or British Gas, I struggle to keep up, maybe it was the Football Association. Regardless, British Airways needs a go getter, a firebrand, someone to get the job done .
 
If the job is ensuring a financially strong and successful airline which has been able to weather the pandemic better than any other legacy airline I can thing of, and not required any multi billion pound bailouts (see AF, KL, LH, AA, DL etc. etc.), then I think the recent ceos of IAG/BA will rightfully claim job done.

...British Airways needs a go getter, a firebrand, someone to get the job done .

What would you say are the problems at BA which need tackling?
 

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