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IAG today announced a shake up of senior management – including the news that British Airways CEO, Alex Cruz, will be stepping down. The full changes are as follows:
- Alex Cruz, British Airways chairman and chief executive, is to step down as chief executive and remain the airline’s non-executive chairman.
- Sean Doyle, Aer Lingus chairman and chief executive, will become the new chief executive of British Airways and take over as chairman after a transition period.
- Fernando Candela, LEVEL chief executive, is joining the Group’s management committee in a new role of chief transformation officer.
- At Aer Lingus, Donal Moriarty, currently the airline’s chief corporate affairs officer, will become interim chief executive. A permanent appointment will be announced in due course.
Announcing the changes, IAG chief executive, Luis Gallego, said:
“IAG has proved itself to be one of the world’s leading airline groups with a portfolio of successful companies. We’re navigating the worst crisis faced in our industry and I’m confident these internal promotions will ensure IAG is well placed to emerge in a strong position.
“I want to thank Alex for all that he has done at British Airways. He worked tirelessly to modernise the airline in the years leading up to the celebration of its 100th anniversary. Since then, he has led the airline through a particularly demanding period and has secured restructuring agreements with the vast majority of employees.
Bottom line
With Willie Walsh gone from IAG, and now Alex Cruz from BA, it is clear that a new chapter is beginning.
Apart from his rather dashing high-vis jacket, how will you remember Alex Cruz’s time at British Airways? We have often given him a bit of a hard time here at InsideFlyer, but it is worth remembering that he has led some substantial (and positive) changes too – not least delivering the new Club World cabin.
He doesn’t really have a legacy – he was Willie Walsh’s puppet throughout. When his “sponsor” Willie left, it was only a matter of time before Cruz would get his marching orders.
I hope for a future where we don’t even know the CEO’s name, like with practically every other airline in the world…
Sean Doyle 😉
LOL. Hopefully to be soon forgotten…
Mr. Cruz always played fair with me! When my wife was in remission from cancer and I thought that a little more comfort on l transatlantic trip was in order I wrote to Mr. Cruz and he upgraded a reward CW to a 1st. class ticket, both ways, at absolutely no extra charge – saving us 40,000 avios. I will always be grateful to him for that!
Perhaps I should have said that when we were allowed to upgrade that there were no 1st reward seats available, on any US flight, so we’re were allowed to upgrade into non-reward seats.
He and Wee Willie Walsh demoralised cabin crew and consistently undervalued the concept of quality service. I gave up on BA when CW cabins were regularly dirty. I was mostly travelling the LHR-HKG route and BA simply couldn’t compete with CX, not even close.