Obituary: Sir Roy Watts
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Your support makes all the difference.YOUR VERY sympathetic and comprehensive obituary of Sir Roy Watts (by Michael R. Hoffman, 6 May) was less than fair about his contribution to the success of British Airways in the 1980s, writes J. Richard Graham. I worked directly for him, both in 1974 and again in 1978-82. He was passionately committed to the creation of a modern cost-effective airline. He was innovative - I worked with him on the Shuttle and was its first manager - and he was imaginative.
It was he and not Lord King of Wartnaby who was responsible for turning British Airways round and preparing it for the private sector. The first initiatives to improve productivity and reduce staff began in 1978 when Sir Ross Stainton was Chairman. Roy Watts, as Chief Executive, set up productivity committees and created the framework within which real change could take place by making every senior general manager participate in the work. He demanded and got our commitment to change.
Over the next three years not only was the workforce reduced from 52,000 to 39,000, but the whole shape and style of the management changed. There was an emphasis on responsibility, creativity and personal development; some of the most productive and original trade-union agreements were concluded; the operation and the customers it served were put at the centre of things, and the quality of management improved.
British Airways in 1978 had the poorest operating performance in Europe. By 1982 it had become the favourite airline. All this had been planned and achieved under Roy Watts. His quiet and purposeful leadership put the airline in a position to gain real market value when privatisation took place.
It was a mark of Roy's modesty and strength that when these achievements were hijacked by others he never tried to correct the public record. In fact he got on with his life, and turned his energies elsewhere. Only those of us who lived through that experience with him and always admired his leadership, acknowledge the truth, which has always been there in the annual reports of British Airways.
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