New Boss at British Airways

The former head of Aer Lingus, Willie Walsh, has taken over as chief executive of British Airways. On his first day in the job he praised the record of his predecessor, Sir Rod Eddington, who pursued a cost-cutting program and reduced BA staff numbers by 14,000 over five years. More cuts are expected when BA relocates its Heathrow operations to the new Terminal 5 in 2008.

Willie Walsh arrived at BA five months ago and worked alongside Eddington in the hand-over period. It was a period that saw militant action by BA workers who disrupted summer services with wild-cat strikes in the wake of the sacking of some catering workers.

Last month, BA announced a rise of 36 percent in first quarter profits and managed to maintain yields in spite of increases in fuel costs. Walsh has set a target of reducing BA´s cost base to achieve a 10 percent operating margin. “We need to be able to make sure that we can invest in our assets and in our people. If it hadn´t been for fuel costs, we would have got a lot closer to ten per cent, but I do believe it´s relevant and it is achievable,” he said.

There is no chance that Walsh would turn BA in the direction of a no-frills budget airline as he did at Aer Lingus. “Within a year we will make significant investments in our Club World business class cabin, in flight entertainment and in the ba.com web site,” he added.