Willie Walsh to run Worlds Favourite Airline

Sarsfield

Walsh named as new British Airways CEO

http://www.rte.ie/business/2005/0308/aerlingus.html

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Well done WW!

dmeehan

aer lingus & the g'ment are muppets. they lost the best ceo in the industry and now BA have snapped him up

Metrobest

Like all the best Irish talent, Willie has to go abroad to get the recognition he deserves. Bertie treated Willie shamefully and I hope the voters of North Dublin punish him for it.

MG

This will be an interesting test for WW. There is a lingering suspicion in my mind that he did a good job in a badly run company which has lead to excessive praise. It will be interesting to see how he gets on with a more complex beast in BA, only then will we know how good he is.

Bluehair

MG wrote:

.......... has lead to excessive praise. It will be interesting to see how he gets on with a more complex beast in BA, only then will we know how good he is.

I suspect exactly the same. While this is undoubtably a coup for Willie Walsh, I doubt it will prove to be such for BA.

BuffyBot

MG wrote:

This will be an interesting test for WW. There is a lingering suspicion in my mind that he did a good job in a badly run company which has lead to excessive praise. It will be interesting to see how he gets on with a more complex beast in BA, only then will we know how good he is.

I'm in agreement with this. BA will be a much bigger, and much more difficult, challege for Willie Walsh.

MG

Just to further illustrate my point, I heard this on Euronews this morning:

"Eddington cut one third of the work force and cut prices on short haul flights. The value of BA shares has halved since he arrived as CEO. Walsh took over Aer Lingus when it was losing €1.7m per day and turned the airline around into a business making profits of €80m (?) per year. He did this by sacking a third of the workforce and reducing prices of flights"

This is from memory, not verbatim, but anyone notice anything?!!!!!!!!!?

jlang

MG, are you saying that WW just needs to turn up and do nothing, as Eddington's already done the hard work and Walsh can just sit back and get the credit by watching things turn around?

BuffyBot

I think the main point is that WW's job at Aer Lingus wasn't exactly rocket science. It was losing money hand over fist, and they way to stop that was chop, chop, chop.

BA is a monsterous entity in comparison to Aer Lingus, and life might not be as simple for WW there. They're already undergoing extensive re-structuring which began under Eddington, so Walsh will be under pressure to deliver performance as a result of that re-structure. That's the tricky part - how will he increase profit margins when he can't rely on the "chop, chop, chop" method?

MG

JLang - Buffybot explains what I meant very well.

murphaph

BuffyBot wrote:

....how will he increase profit margins when he can't rely on the "chop, chop, chop" method?

First thing he should do is get the aerLingus.com webmaster cos it's simply the most user friendly booking site there is. Even Ryanair had to follow suit with a fairly lame imitation (farefinder). I just love the way aerlingus.com has always just shown you the cheapest fares without the ryanair et al b*llsh1t of trying different dates. I have more confidence in Mr. Walsh than many here, it seems only time will tell but the City seems happy enough with his appointment, no tumbling share price anyway Good luck Willy, BA is massive so you'll need it. btw, did anyone see O'Leary's compliment to WW yesterday? I bet he's actually relieved WW took that job instead of starting up his own budget carrier.

dowlingm

Murphaph and all the other Eddington knockers -

I am quite content with BA's service (regular pax YYZ-LHR-ORK/SNN). I like finding a High Life in the seatback (not every second or third one, and dog-eared, like Cara). I like not having to scramble for change to pay for a drink on longhaul. I also think BA's booking engine is pretty damn good, especially when you consider the number of codeshares etc. it has to handle. EI's first webengine was appalling and I still find this one a bit finicky. Finally, the stabbing of TAB members in the back is something bottom tier BA Executive Club members like myself will fear.

Remember, EI strikes disrupt DUB - a BA strike could cause serious problems at LHR, LGW, MAN, BHX, GLA... bigger stakes, more entrenched unions!

Willie could do some stuff - get rid of the remaining shorthaul Boeings and maybe the BCal A320-100s to simplify the European fleet - but BA is a first class airline and the people who fly with them like it that way!

murphaph

dowlingm wrote:

Murphaph and all the other Eddington knockers

wtf? I didn't knock Eddington. He's done a bang up job with BA who were in serious troble not so long ago. I just pointed out how easy the aerlingus site is to use and that it encourages my business over ryanair, for example.

dowlingm wrote:

I like finding a High Life in the seatback (not every second or third one, and dog-eared, like Cara). I like not having to scramble for change to pay for a drink on longhaul

I like cheap flights.

Bluehair

murphaph wrote:

I like cheap flights.

Me too

And while I've little confidence in Willie I think that at the end of the day what will drive his policys is the simple fact that lower fares drive demand.

I've been lucky enough in the past to have flown business class and even first class with a variety of carriers both short and long haul and while it was great fun there's no way in hell I'm paying for it out of my own pocket (though I do have the means). I'd rather have 3 or 4 trips in 'cheap' economy than 1 in business class.

I wouldn't be surprised if European flights are overhauled in a big way but BA can still demand (and recieve) a good price for their WT+, Club World and First class products on long haul.

BuffyBot

First thing he should do is get the aerLingus.com webmaster cos it's simply the most user friendly booking site there is. Even Ryanair had to follow suit with a fairly lame imitation (farefinder).

I have to say, I much prefer OpenSkies the system Ryanair and many others use. Aer Lingus's site used to be awful. It's got better, but I don't think it's anything spectacular!

I wouldn't be surprised if European flights are overhauled in a big way but BA can still demand (and recieve) a good price for their WT+, Club World and First class products on long haul.

I'm not sure they'll tinker with BA short-haul too much. They're already marketing themselves as a "sort-of" low fares airline with the back-up of a conventional airline. Switching to a totally low-cost, one class airline won't be an option for them either. They're in a bit of a pickle as to what to do, I'd imagine.

dowlingm

sorry murphaph bit of an overreaction.

BA are not that expensive to travel with - compare to Air Canada charging what the market will bear into Ireland! I have gone ORK-LHR-YYZ for 400Euro BA - not bad say I, but open skies and the end of Bermuda II will do more to sharpen up BA as a lowcost than any amount of O'Learyising.

As for "I prefer low cost" - there is always the likes of Globespan/Air Transat/Zoom etc. doing charters to the UK - let them be loco if they want. But there will always be a market for a premium product even at the back of the plane, and as long as BA keep giving it (like free seat selection, not like AC, and online check-in at +24 with fast bag drop, and the occasional WT+ upgrade) then they get my dollar.

If they can make T5 work, merging British Isles and International with no terminal change and decreasing the time stipulated to get from one to t'other, with QF, CX, BA, AA, FI and hopefully EI all present and correct, oneworld could start making sense.

Some new IFE would be nice if you're listening Willie!

murphaph

No worries dowlingm, the good old market forces will dictate how it all goes I suppose.

Zaph0d

dowlingm - the acronym king! (TAK)

Excepting the very rich and the very tall, what market is there for 'premium product' on a short flight? What kind of premium features on a 90 minute trip could possibly justify a couple of hundred euros?

As for IFE (in-flight-entertainment I guess?) you could buy a 17inch laptop with dvd player and a library of dvds, music and games for the difference in price between economy and business class on a transatlantic ba flight. In-flight movies are unwatchable in any case as they have been butchered to death to prevent causing offence to every known world culture.

murphaph

Zaph0d wrote:

In-flight movies are unwatchable in any case as they have been butchered to death to prevent causing offence to every known world culture.

How true, they're always so lame.

Victor

Zaph0d wrote:

Excepting the very rich and the very tall, what market is there for 'premium product' on a short flight? What kind of premium features on a 90 minute trip could possibly justify a couple of hundred euros?

One paid for by someone else / daddy.

murphaph

Zaph0d wrote:

What kind of premium features on a 90 minute trip could possibly justify a couple of hundred euros?

****philip strains not to say something very rude****

antoinolachtnai

dowlingm wrote:

Murphaph and all the other Eddington knockers -

Remember, EI strikes disrupt DUB - a BA strike could cause serious problems at LHR, LGW, MAN, BHX, GLA... bigger stakes, more entrenched unions!

well, not exactly. Secondary picketing is illegal in the UK. That means that a dispute regarding a Heathrow flight cannot be the basis for a strike at Gatwick (for example). Management should be able to ensure that there isn't a massive wave of disruption.

Willie could do some stuff - get rid of the remaining shorthaul Boeings and maybe the BCal A320-100s to simplify the European fleet - but BA is a first class airline and the people who fly with them like it that way!

Well, the big airline business is basically a volume business. The trick is to fill the planes from the back, not from the front. I guess he will take whatever steps it takes to make that happen.

penexpers

Anyone think now that BA will end up buying part of Aer Lingus?

BuffyBot

penexpers wrote:

Anyone think now that BA will end up buying part of Aer Lingus?

Over the current governments collective dead bodies, I'd imagine

antoinolachtnai

It is hard to imagine that BA won't be involved in some way.

Of course, the big risk is that BA would use the Aer Lingus slots at Heathrow for some other purpose.

Personally, I think that the government should restructure Aer Lingus to permanently safeguard the Heathrow routes and any other strategic routes, then sell it to the highest bidder. There is very little point in the State keeping a minority interest in the airline. (But now I am off-topic.)