BUSINESS NEWS
BA made a €1.4 billion operating profit last year but only 59.7% of flights were on time; inset, Sean Doyle
BA to spend £7bn on IT and operations ‘transformation’
Carrier vows investment will improve service ‘resilience’. Ian Taylor reports
British Airways chiefs unveiled a £7 billion transformation at a ‘showcase’ event in the City of London on Monday, highlighting an overhaul of BA’s technology platforms and measures to improve its operations. Chief executive Sean Doyle
hailed “the most significant transformation in our history”, emphasing a “drive for operational resilience” alongside spending on IT, the customer experience, recruitment and sustainability. Doyle acknowledged his “three
years running BA” – he took over in October 2020 – “had not been
48 7 MARCH 2024
without its challenges” but insisted: “This isn’t just chat. It’s backed by significant investment.” The showcase previewed
everything from new leather seats on the aircraft joining BA’s short-haul fleet from April to delay-monitoring systems and instant messaging between ground staff and crew to enable passenger problems to be dealt with inflight. Doyle noted £750 million of
the £7 billion in spending “over the next two years” will go on new back-office and operational systems and the move from an ageing legacy platform to the cloud. But in reality,
the IT transformation has been under way for several years and the £7 billion is not all ‘new’ money. Doyle previously highlighted the amount in November and it includes spending on aircraft ordered years ago. The upbeat messaging followed
the announcement of BA parent IAG’s full-year results last week which revealed an operating profit of €3.5 billion and post-tax profit of €2.65 billion across BA, Iberia, Vueling and Aer Lingus. BA accounted for €1.4 billion in
Continued on page 46
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BUSINESSNEWS
PICTURES: One Plus One Media; Naoise Culhane Photography
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