IAG Chief Walsh stands behind embattled BA manager

BA owner IAG defended BA boss Alex Cruz’s handling of a massive flights outage over the weekend that’s estimated to cost the carrier as much as E100m. “It has been very unfair of people to try and blame Alex,” IAG CEO Willie Walsh said at a press conference in Barcelona to celebrate the first flight by the group’s new budget brand, Level. “It was not a problem of his making.” After a computer failure grounded hundreds of flights and stranded at least 75,000 passengers, Cruz came under fire for cost cuts and outsourcing he’s led since taking over British Airways a year ago. The carrier blamed the outage on a power surge at its data hub near London’s Heathrow Airport, and says it was caused by hardware and not by the center’s outsourced software functions. “We understand what caused the problem and we’re still investigating exactly why some of these issues happened,” Walsh said. “Cruz has done a great job.” The data center’s hardware and maintenance are provided by an outside vendor, which may allow BA to reclaim some of the damages, Goodbody Stockbrokers analyst Mark Simpson wrote in a note. Goodbody estimates the weekend’s fiasco could cost BA E82m, including E36m of lost revenue and E46m of possible compensation costs. Citigroup pegged the bill at E100m.<br/>