British Airways in management shake-up to tackle flight delays and cancellations

Four new roles as airline struggles to reduce ongoing crisis

British Airways has shaken up senior executives as it struggles to recover from flight delays and cancellations that have marred its recovery from Covid-19.

New managers have taken responsibility for customer services, operations and IT, the airline confirmed.

The flag-carrier has seen its return to profit dented by the chaos in recent weeks which has forced it to trim schedules until the end of summer in order to avoid more disruption to passengers.

It has been hit by staff shortages — particularly in baggage handling and other ground operations — that have also plagued other airlines. However, BA’s IT woes, which have included several major system outages that left thousands of passengers stranded, are of its own making.

Chief information and digital officer Anthony Allcock is to be replaced by external hire Dirk John, an external hire, while Calum Laming is brought in as chief customer officer, replacing Tom Stevens, according to the Financial Times, which first reported the changes.

The role of chief operating officer has been split in two, with incumbent Jason Mahoney becoming chief technical officer while a new external hire will take over day-to-day operations.

A spokesman for the airline said: “We're navigating an extremely challenging period as we rebuild following the global pandemic, and therefore we've created four new roles on our leadership team.

“Everyone at British Airways is completely focused on three priorities: our customers, supporting the biggest recruitment drive in our history and increasing our operational resilience to deliver the best possible experience for our customers.”

Last week British Airways’ parent firm IAG said it was cutting capacity on BA’s summer schedule by 5 per cent to reduce cancellations and delays.

Chief executive Luis Gallego said the cost of dealing with the BA disruption was the main reason why first-quarter operating losses were €754m (£645m) – much worse than analyst forecasts of €510m.