“Don't be a prisoner of history, doing things the way you've always done them,” Sean Doyle, British Airways

“The path to get to this point has been challenging,” says Sean Doyle, Chairman and CEO of British Airways. “It's been intense, and I wouldn't underestimate the role of doing a lot of things very differently.”

Doyle is talking about the recent achievement of a record £2 billion operating profit at BA for 2024. The fact it is a near mirror image of the £2 billion loss reported in 2021 highlights the steepness of the path Doyle refers to.

That contrast is exacerbated by the pandemic, but Doyle says that is far from the only swing factor. BA is in the midst of a £7 billion transformation programme and Doyle attributes much of its success to investments starting to pay off. It’s an argument supported by the fact BA’s success is not shared equally across the sector where other airlines are struggling with serial challenges - from corporate travel remaining well below pre-pandemic levels to supply chain issues hampering availability of new aircraft.

Tech-powered transformation

A key component in BA’s transformation has been technology, adding value to the top and bottom line of the business.

Examples include artificial intelligence (AI) being used to speed up the scheduling and rescheduling of flights. This gives BA the agility to respond quickly to short-term issues such as weather disruptions, or to ensure it uses the optimal aircraft for a given route.

“We can consistently iterate, because if you're not flying to the right place at the right time, you're getting it wrong,” says Doyle.

Doyle says BA has seen significant operational improvements in measures such as the proportion of departures within 15-minutes of scheduled times at Heathrow.

Also, predictive analytics is being deployed to identify aircraft maintenance issues before they may arise and plan in works to minimise ground time.

“We’ve seen big improvements in the number of aircraft we have available,” says Doyle, of the impact predictive analytics has had.

“If there's a problem with a seat or a coffee maker on a flight, we've digitised our reporting so we can file a report which will get to our engineers before the plane has even landed.”

Utilising a technology deployed in partnership with Microsoft, called Connected Teams, BA’s cabin crew can support customers at 35,000ft – for example, by rebooking a customer onto a later connecting flight before they land on their current flight, if they are at risk of missing that connection.

Doyle says such innovations have contributed to improvements in customer satisfaction scores.

Empowering teams

Doyle highlights the fact that such functionality is only as good as the people who use it, and getting teams on board has been critical to success.

“We’ve worked with our crews to ensure they have confidence in that system and as a result they are using it a lot more and we're getting much greater insights into the things we need to fix.”

There is also a greater focus on gaining customer insights from data and turning that data into improved services.

“We have 46 million passengers every year, but I think we will get to the point where we'll be able to serve every single person an experience which is relatively bespoke,” he says. “The ability to use our digital capability to serve up the right thing at the right time is going to be very exciting.”

“We have up to 25 different interactions that can create a data footprint with our customers, when somebody searches, books, travels, enters a lounge, and when we deal with an issue on board,” he says. “That data is very powerful and the technology foundations we’re building, moving from legacy applications and data centres to the cloud, enables the integration of that data, with external contextual data, to understand consumer trends and behaviours.”

Looking around corners

“When you work in our industry, you've got to look around corners,” says Doyle. “Even small changes in demand can have a big impact on the bottom line and you’ve got to spot the tipping points, when an anomaly becomes a trend.”

One trend Doyle says the business is analysing currently is the impact of geopolitical events across the global economy, particularly in the US market.

“We're a global airline and we operate to about 80 countries and close to 200 cities, so anything that introduces friction we’ll look at. The airline industry tends to be a bellwether for a lot of macroeconomic events. So, we have to watch this very closely.”

However, he believes the business is well set up to adapt and can draw upon strengths that are particular to BA’s history and heritage.

“You've got to have a diversified portfolio. We fly to the Middle and Far East, Africa, Asia, Europe, the Americas and Australia - we’ve got a brand that's recognised and trusted globally,” he says. “We have consideration in overseas markets that a lot of other airlines don't because of our legacy and history.”

The perennial appeal of the UK, to business travellers and tourists alike is also a strength.

“We have a level of resilience that other people would envy. But we don't take it for granted.”

Brand value

Not taking things for granted is a point Doyle revisits several times. He’s aware of the value of BA’s brand but is clear the company cannot afford to get complacent.

There is a parallel with Doyle’s own career. He has spent over a quarter of a century working at BA, interrupted by a spell as CEO of Aer Lingus, another brand in the IAG Group.

“There’s pros and cons to being around for quite a long time,” he says of his tenure. “You understand the culture of the company in a more nuanced way. You understand the things that can create momentum and destroy momentum.”

“But at the same time don't be a prisoner of history, doing things the way you've always done them.”

“The past can be a very dangerous place to dwell for too long,” he says. “Because the future will be so different from the past.”