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This article was published in 2019 in a series on the history of British Airways and its predecessors Imperial Airways, BOAC and BEA. You can browse all 100 stories in number order, by theme or by decade.
Many have been updated since first published.
Eyebrows were raised when Willie Walsh, a former pilot, trade union representative, and CEO of Aer Lingus, joined BA in 2005 to replace the emollient Rod Eddington as Chief Executive.
At the time, BA and Aer Lingus as airlines were worlds apart in both size and focus on long-haul premium traffic. However, it was evident there was a shopping list of legacy issues at BA to be resolved. Rod Eddington had overseen significant reform of BA, particularly post 11 September 2001, but was viewed by industry commentators as having avoided confrontation and dodged the most difficult tasks.
Ground staff working practices at London Heathrow had to be reformed ahead of the airline’s move to Terminal 5 in 2008. Inexplicably, ground staff at Terminals 1 and 4 each had different industrial agreements.
Immediately before Willie Walsh’s arrival, there had been wildcat industrial action by BA ground staff at Heathrow, the third consecutive summer of industrial relations tension at the airport. The Economist even speculated that BA’s move to Terminal 5 could be the aviation equivalent of the Wapping dispute of the 1980s when Rupert Murdoch took on the print unions.
The current dispute between BA and BALPA is not the first time there have been tensions between the two. Ahead of talks to resolve BA’s escalating pension deficit, BALPA told its members to save £25,000 for a strike. Having been left unresolved, the pension deficit had resulted in an empty aircraft order book to replace the fleet of Boeing 747-400 aircraft.
In both cases, Willie Walsh can claim credit for having resolved the issues behind closed doors without official industrial action.
However, there were still many volatile times. Willie Walsh stood at Heathrow in the early hours of the morning of the opening of Terminal 5 to greet the first passengers arriving from Hong Kong, seemingly unaware of the chaos that was about to ensue. There were immediate questions as to whether Willie should pay the price. Afterwards, Willie was candid in accepting that BA should not have allowed delays in the terminal’s construction to truncate testing before opening.
The restructuring of BA’s Heathrow cabin crew fleets the next year led to at protracted and, at times, unedifying, conflict.
Aside from Michael O’Leary, Willie is one of the most outspoken figures in the aviation industry. He has publicly criticised Heathrow airport many times (and has little time for airport operators generally), only very recently accusing them of conning the public as to the cost of a third runway.
I take comfort from the fact that John Holland-Kaye [CEO, Heathrow] is upset with the comments that I’ve made. I’ll quote Oscar Wilde that whenever people agree with me, I always think I’m wrong, but the fact that they’re disagreeing with me means I’m right.
Willie Walsh, 2018
Whilst Willie speaks highly of his industry peers at rival airlines, with criticism usually reserved for those forces such as Government shareholders that interfere, he has never hidden his disdain for Sir Richard Branson. He also has little time for press and industry commentary, describing it all as “noise”.
Willie Walsh left BA in early 2011 to take up the role of Chief Executive of its new parent company International Airlines Group. However, Willie left making it clear he thought his restructuring of BA was unfinished business.
Having led Aer Lingus immediately after the events of 11 September 2001 and BA during the 2008 financial crisis, Willie Walsh has always maintained that airlines must prepare themselves in the good times to withstand industry down turns.
IAG has a relentless focus on cost discipline and rational decision making that it will never let go of. Of course, customers do not assess airlines according to objective rational criteria. And the “rational” approach led to BA maintaining its space efficient 8 across Club World layout for longer than it should have.
Whilst in its 8 year history, IAG has not yet had to deal with a major industry crisis, Willie Walsh almost relishes the opportunity to prove that he is right.
Update January 2020
International Airlines Group has confirmed on Thursday 9 January 2020 that Willie Walsh is to retire from IAG.
Luis Gallago, CEO of Iberia, will replace Willie Walsh from 26 March 2020 and will retire from IAG on 30 June 2020.
International Airlines Group (IAG) announces that Willie Walsh has decided to retire as chief executive. He will stand down from the role and from the Board of IAG on 26 March 2020 and will retire on 30 June 2020. Luis Gallego, currently Iberia chief executive, will succeed Willie.
Antonio Vázquez, IAG chairman, said: “Willie has led the merger and successful integration of British Airways and Iberia to form IAG. Under Willie’s leadership IAG has become one of the leading global airline groups.
“Willie has been the main driver of this unique idea that is IAG. I hugely admire his commitment, strong leadership and clear vision, always ready to take on whatever challenges lay ahead of him. I am deeply respectful of what he has achieved as CEO of this Group, of his sense of fairness, his transparency and his capacity to integrate people regardless of nationalities or backgrounds.
“Willie has established a strong management team and I am delighted that Luis will be promoted from this team to succeed Willie as CEO. Luis started his career in the airline industry in 1997 with Air Nostrum and, since 2014, he has been CEO of Iberia where he has led a profound transformation of this airline. The Board is confident that Luis is the right person to lead IAG in the next stage of its development and we look forward to working closely with Luis in his new role”.
Willie Walsh said: “It has been a privilege to have been instrumental in the creation and development of IAG. I have had the pleasure of working with many exceptional people over the past 15 years at British Airways and at IAG. Luis has been a core member of the team and has shown true leadership over the years and I have no doubt he will be a great CEO of IAG”.
Luis Gallego said: “It has been a great pleasure to work with Willie over the last seven years. It is a huge honour to lead this great company. It is an exciting time at IAG and I am confident that we can build on the strong foundations created by Willie”.
Luis Gallego’s successor at Iberia will be announced in due course.
9 January 2020
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