‘Running a bad airline is expensive’: is British Airways finally getting better?
Share:
Complaining about BA is a ‘national sport’, but even critics says its £7bn turnaround plan is starting to bear fruit. It’s been a long and turbulent time since anyone used British Airways’ old slogan “the world’s favourite airline” with a straight face. After a decade during which the UK flag carrier was tarnished by cost-cutting, IT fiascos, mass redundancies and strikes, BA was then pushed to the brink by Covid.
![[A PR image from 1994 shows a member of a BA cabin crew serve a drink to a passenger]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/c09d455b1b8d138a5b4474a999b62f80041f8b1e/0_36_1932_1160/master/1932.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Hopes of a smooth recovery disappeared like lost luggage on a carousel, as cancellations and delays plagued an airline seen as pricier than short-haul competitors and dowdier than the Gulf carriers. With burgeoning complaints about customer service, pledges by bosses to turn things round were met with some scepticism.
![[Airways check-in line at Los Angeles airport on 26 December 2024.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/fb4c6a45d6e743902bbe68e3264d75212e7d4b0c/0_0_5219_3133/master/5219.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
And yet, something strange has happened. The share price of IAG, the Spanish-registered group whose fortunes rest predominantly with BA’s, has doubled in the past 10 months to levels uncharted since before the pandemic – and not just on the back of growing profits revealed in November. City analysts have concluded that BA really – no, really – is getting better after all.
![[Food is served on a flight in 1987]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0b24c6566b949eef1406e51e93682c6609fe2992/0_17_2952_1773/master/2952.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Last Christmas, the airline’s chief executive, Sean Doyle, started talking of the turnaround – confident enough to relocate festive drinks from central London to a Heathrow arrivals lounge to showcase BA’s new offering to grumbling journalists. He promised more was coming: comfier seats, better-quality service, improved reliability. In spring, the airline showcased its plans for a £7bn investment, in an effort to stem the perception that BA was getting left behind by global rivals.
