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what Doyle calls ‘unbelievable food’ prepared by BA’s caterer Do & Co, which has built a new multi-million-pound kitchen at Hatton Cross. My beef is better than the reheated hunk of meat of old, but the truth is BA has a long way to go before it can claim to offer the quality of food served by Virgin Atlantic, the Gulf carriers, Qantas and Singapore Airlines. In some ways, the pandemic has helped Doyle to revamp service. He’s using technology refined during lockdown to minimise contact between staff and passengers to launch a pre-order service in short-haul economy for those who want a full meal, not just a snack, from a new menu created by chef Tom Kerridge. (The steak pie is good.) He will also continue to use a QR code for menus in the lounges, so business-class passengers ‘will be able to sit down, order and we can bring food to them’. Virgin Atlantic, Qatar and Qantas have had table service for years, but better late than never. There will be no more than a free snack and a mini bottle of water in economy short-haul, but I wonder whether he might improve the experience by reserving the exit rows and the front rows of economy – perhaps with more legroom – for BA Gold and Silver card executive club members? ‘We have two products – Club Europe and Economy – and we’re not looking to complicate it any further,’ he says, before adding: ‘Our Executive Club gold card holders do have access to pre-allocated seating.’ Some analysts had predicted that BA’s decision to retire its 31 jumbo jets after the pandemic hit would leave it a smaller carrier. Not so. The Cork-born CEO, who lives with his wife and son in west London, thinks demand will grow as global travel restrictions ease and BA will be back to flying the 47.7 million passengers it carried in 2019 by 2024. By that time, it will have the same number of seats in its fleet as it had in 2019. It is buying new Airbus and Boeing long-haul jets to make up for the jumbos it scrapped – part of a £6.5 billion investment programme approved before the pandemic. After 2024 he spies expansion: ‘I want to get back to growing. When we look beyond the traditional markets – Europe, the US – and into the emerging markets – Asia, Africa – we see opportunities for growth in the future.’


Doyle, who worked at BA for 22 years and then joined its sister airline Aer Lingus as CEO in 2019 before returning to BA as boss, believes business travel will return faster than many predict. ‘People do business with people,’ he insists. ‘You lose the business to the guy who shows up when you were on the Zoom.’ He’d better be right. BA’s parent company, International Airlines Group, is predicting a Ð3 billion loss for 2021. Reports of the death of first class are


exaggerated. It will continue on most routes – on the A380 and Boeing 787s and 777s but not the A350s – and will be even more exclusive, with an eight-seat cabin, down from 14. That raises the prospect that a family could book the entire cabin and enjoy a private jet-style experience at a fraction of the cost of flying private. Although the


What travel


does is very important. We should never apologise for the broader halo we bring


first-class suite has not improved as much as business class, Doyle stresses ‘the small touches that make a difference, especially more intimate service, more privacy, enhancements to food and wine’. In recent years, BA’s service has all too


often been cold and ‘computer says no’. Doyle ‘won’t comment on where we’re coming from’ but insists: ‘As people come out of the pandemic, reassurance that you’re flying with an airline you trust and which displays warmth is very important. It’s always been in the DNA of British Airways.’ Staff are being retrained and the vast, unwieldy customer service manual slimmed down to give staff more discretion. One area Doyle knows he has to lead is on the environment. He insists BA’s commitment to new aircraft with lean burn engines (such as the A350), sustainable aviation fuel, hydrogen power and carbon capture will help it become carbon-neutral by 2050. Short flights –


around an hour – carrying 100 people could run on hydrogen by the early 2030s, by which time 10 per cent of the airline’s aviation fuel will be sustainable. ‘We see sustainable aviation fuel being a very important part of the solution.’ But he cautions: ‘It will be a long road.


We’ve been very honest and realistic about how long it will take. It will be 30 years before you get aviation to a truly carbon net zero position.’ Is he worried that a new generation, inspired by Greta Thunberg, will not want to fly, in the same way as many under-30s have decided not to eat meat or fish? ‘I think we’re going to have to tell a


different story in the next three or four years, especially to younger generations of travellers. We need to keep emphasising that we’re committed to sustainable aviation – but also that aviation is very important. We’re global citizens. We all work in different parts of the world. We have family members all over the world. We jump into remote parts of the world and spend money and boost the local economy. What travel does is very important. We should never apologise for the broader halo we bring.’ All Doyle’s new moves on product and


service are bearing fruit, if the latest airline rankings are anything to go by. BA moved up the Skytrax best airline index from 19th in 2019 to 11th in 2021. John Holland-Kaye – boss of one of BA’s biggest partners, Heathrow Airport, where BA has more than half the coveted take-off and landing slots – has noticed a change, too. ‘Sean has brought a big cultural shift,’ he says. Where will BA be in the 2022 rankings, I ask Doyle. ‘That would be a hostage to fortune,’ he laughs. ‘We’re very encouraged by the progress we’re making.’ When will BA return to profitability? After losing £20 million a day during lockdown, it’s ‘too early’ to say. As BA001 comes into land at JFK, Doyle has one nagging question: what route to use Concorde’s old flight number for? When Speedbird One dipped its beak for the last time, the James Bond-style code went to the ‘Banker Express’, BA’s all-business-class service on the Airbus A319 from London City to JFK. That service was axed during lockdown and will not return. Doyle says: ‘It’s an iconic number. We’ll use it for special occasions – days like today.’ S


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