BA promises ‘the most significant transformation’ in its history

Surprise and delight the customer is the number one rule of hospitality. It has been sorely lacking at British Airways in recent times. But last night, after three and a half torrid years battling post-pandemic staffing crises, supply chain woes and Heathrow hell, Sean Doyle, the chief executive of BA, raised a glass of Veuve Clicquot Grande Dame champagne to better days. At a glitzy “in the skies” party on the 42nd floor of London’s Leadenhall skyscraper, he promised “the most significant transformation in our history”.

He and his top team will invest £7 billion over the next two years in new aircraft and upgraded cabins, lounges and IT. Around £5 billion will go on new jets and cabins. A dozen hangar-fresh Airbus short-haul A320s and A321s and long-haul A350s and Boeing 787s will be delivered this year. New leather seats will be introduced in short-haul Airbus planes. All long-haul jets will have the new Club Suite business-class seat and there will be a new first-class cabin on the double-decker Airbus A380 superjumbo. BA won’t yet say whether first class will move from the lower to the upper deck.

Almost £1 billion will be spent on new IT systems, including a more personalised website and mobile phone app, to replace what one executive jokes is “technology from the 1870s”. BA has suffered a dozen IT meltdowns in the past decade. Within months, all its IT services will be “cloud based” rather than run off ancient servers in BA offices, which should help to prevent outages.

From next month, members of the airline’s Executive Club loyalty programme will be able to send free WhatsApp and text messages on all BA jets which have Wi-Fi. Most planes now do and all will have Wi-Fi by next year. Better connectivity between aircraft and BA’s bases will help cabin crew to resolve issues, such as lost bags, before passengers reach their destination. When flights are delayed or cancelled, BA will soon be able to text vouchers for hotels and food to customers and give them new tools to rebook online on BA or, if they prefer, on other airlines.

Lounges, featuring more wood and softer lighting, will be built in Dubai and Miami. The design, co-created with Ashley Dowell of the architectural company Gensler, will be introduced at Heathrow Terminal 5, BA’s home hub, including in the Arrivals Lounge. Next month the airline will launch its first splashy television advertisements since the pandemic under its new “A British Original” slogan. A new safety video will follow in May. (It remains to be seen whether Robert Peston will survive the cut).

Doyle also announced the return of two routes that were suspended during the pandemic – London to Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur, from next winter. As well as investing in new frills, Doyle acknowledged last night that he is “fixing the basics”, particularly punctuality. BA has the money to splurge. Its parent company, IAG, more than doubled operating profits in 2023 to a record €3.5 billion.

After more than a decade of relentlessly negative headlines about “Broken Airways” and passengers “flying ABBA” (anyone but British Airways), Doyle deserves credit for acknowledging BA has to do better and for putting his money where his mouth is. The trouble is, long-suffering travellers – and journalists – have heard it all before.

In 2017 I was one of a handful of reporters whom Doyle’s predecessor, Alex Cruz, took on a private joyride on a new BA Dreamliner from Gatwick to Heathrow, flying the length of the UK and back to London. Two years later I joined Cruz again on the inaugural flight of the snazzy new Airbus A350 with BA’s new Club Suite from London to Madrid. Each time Cruz promised that vast sums of money would be spent on new jets, new food, new IT and new lounges which would return BA to its gilded position as the world’s favourite airline. Each time, it failed.

In fact, things got worse. In the 2023 Telegraph Travel Awards, voted for by almost 30,000 readers, BA came 12th in the short-haul airline category, behind EasyJet (having taken top spot back in 2016), and 23rd in long-haul, well behind fifth-place Virgin.

Which? magazine described BA as “a thoroughly mediocre airline” in an assessment of the best and worst carriers last year. In this year’s survey it declared: “Virgin Atlantic has long surpassed its transatlantic rival British Airways, with great customer service, comfortable seats, nice food and quality entertainment systems.”

There are some grounds for optimism that this time things might – just might – be different. Doyle has hired a new team of top executives. Calum Laming, the new chief customer officer, is steeped in five-star service thanks to his time spent at Abu Dhabi’s flag carrier, Etihad. Phone call wait times are shortening, thanks to the opening of a new call centre in Delhi. Food on board in all classes and in the business and first-class lounges is better. There are more and better movies and box sets on board. BA’s World Traveller Plus cabin, as BA calls premium economy, is one of the best in the sky.

Furthermore, the Club Suite is a big improvement on the old “back to front” business seats; new security scanners are being introduced at Heathrow T5, which will mean we will no longer have to remove liquids, laptops and iPads from our carry on bags; and BA’s new adverts will reinject some much-needed British humour and eccentricity.

But major challenges remain. The new short-haul seats are comfortable but the legroom is on par with Ryanair. Plans to reintroduce free tea and coffee in economy on many short-haul routes have been dumped. Cruz shrunk the galleys so much to cram in extra seats that there is not enough room to make free hot drinks for everyone.

Economy class on BA’s long-haul jets lags behind its competitors. There are no plans to copy Virgin and Etihad and many American carriers by introducing extra legroom economy seats at the front of the economy cabin. “This is short-sighted,” says Henry Harteveldt of Atmosphere Research.

Frequent fliers say service remains inconsistent. “You can have a great experience one day and a mediocre one the next,” is a common complaint. It will not be until 2027 that BA’s whole fleet, including its 12 A380s, will have the new Club Suite, by which time new business-class offerings from Singapore Airlines, Qatar Airways and Emirates are likely to be streets ahead.

The main lounges in T5 are ageing badly. And while a new first suite is welcome, it is years away and BA’s key competitors do a far better job of coddling their highest-paying customers, offering car transfers to aircraft from their lounges, which are sometimes in separate, dedicated buildings at the airport, complete with their own security screening and duty-free shops.

Doyle’s future – as well as that of BA – rides on whether the new £7 billion investment will lift the nose. He might have been able to blame the Covid hangover for his shaky start as CEO but that won’t wash any more. It’s make or break time.