British Airways (BA) said today (15 April) that two of its senior managers are leaving following the airline”s move to Heathrow Terminal 5.
Director of operations Gareth Kirkwood and director of customer services David Noyes have departed after what has proved a very embarrassing period for the airline.
It is now looking to appoint a chief operations officer to do both jobs, but in the interim, BA CEO Willie Walsh will take over the roles.
In a statement on 28 March ” the day after T5 opened, while hundreds of flights were being cancelled ”Walsh said in a statement: ”Yesterday was definitely not British Airways' finest hour. We disappointed many people and I apologise sincerely. I take responsibility for what happened.
”The buck stops with me.”
Walsh admitted that both BA and BAA were at fault, but he said he was ”taking responsibility for the mistakes we made. We have to correct those and make this fantastic terminal work.”
Earlier this month pilot union Balpa was furious with the airline for turning the brand into a ”laughing stock”, and called for a change in the way it was managed in an open letter to city institutions and the government - "This airline can and should make Britain proud but a fundamental change of attitude is required from the very highest levels of BA management," wrote union general secretary Jim McAuslan.
"We want confidence in our leadership, not arrogance.”
A BA spokesman told ABTN on that day that Willie Walsh would not resign, and is ”determined to resolve problems associated with the initial move to T5.”
The knock-on effect of the T5 debacle was that BA last week announced it would delay the planned April move of long-haul services into the new terminal from T4, and a spokesman said today regarding rumors the move could stretch until autumn - ”We are still aiming to make a move early in summer ” we are still working out the schedule, and still don”t know if it will be staged in separate time frames or all in one go. That”s still being looked at.”
BA”s share price today fell 6.25p to 209.25p.