This summer will not see a repeat of the disruption to British Airways which dominated the spring and early summer of 2022, when the airline cut almost one-fifth of its scheduled flights at Heathrow.
Chief executive Sean Doyle insisted the airline is “focussed on operability” this summer and said there would be no re-run of the cancellations.
But he warned: “Things will happen at Heathrow and they need to get better at dealing with it.”
Speaking at the Business Travel Association (BTA) spring conference in London on Monday, Doyle noted the pandemic years of 2020-21 “were really tough” but said: “Last year was one of the most difficult [and] the difficulties we had played out very publicly.
“We took a decision to cut our summer programme. Painful as it was, it was the right thing to do. This summer we’re focused on operability. Will it be similar this summer? No. There is much better resource.”
Doyle told the travel management companies (TMCs) represented at the conference: “We’re coming out of the worst crisis in aviation’s history [and] you’re very important partners in the rebuilding phase.”
He said “TMCs can bring a level of support to travellers that airlines won’t” and told BTA members: “Thank you for supporting us.”
Doyle acknowledged “the supply chain is a challenge this year” but said: “Last year was about resourcing and ground handling at airports. We launched the biggest recruitment campaign we’ve ever seen.
“The big issue was the speed of referencing and background checks. You can’t train people until you get all the background checks.
“We brought in 7,400 staff by the end of the year and we have 34,000 people working to get this airline back. We’ll be close to 2019 levels of staff very soon.”
He insisted: “There will be much better resourcing this year than last. The number of people in airports will be right this summer.”
Doyle noted industry capacity remains lower than in 2019” but suggested: “There is plenty of reason for optimism.”
He told the BTA: “We’re seeing a steady improvement in business travel. That is important for our business and an important barometer [for the economy]. We expect business travel to get back to about 85% of 2019 levels by late summer.
“We didn’t expect the leisure market to power the recovery, but that is what we saw.”
Asked why fares available on the BA website and through global distribution systems (GDSs) could differ, Doyle said: “A fare on BA.com and on the GDS should be the same fare.
“We can have issues from time to time – sometimes there is a lag. I would have to look into a particular fare.”
BA cancelled 18% of its schedule in advance last summer and axed an additional 10,000 flights to and from Heathrow this winter.