Travel chaos raises stakes for British Airways as it battles to restore its lustre

British Airways’ CE Sean Doyle had earmarked this year as the moment to repair the airline’s battered reputation. Instead, the BA veteran, who took the top job in late 2020 at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, faces a new crisis following a wave of delays, cancellations and IT failures that has left the carrier struggling to get enough aircraft into the sky. BA is not alone. After axing thousands of staff as governments shut the skies in 2020, the airline industry is now buckling under the pent-up demand unleashed by the UK’s relaxation of travel restrictions in late January. But current and former employees, as well as unions, say a combination of staff shortages, particularly among experienced managers, unreliable IT and a hugely complex operating structure have left BA particularly exposed. BA has cancelled 1,244 flights this year, about one in 20 of the scheduled number, according to aviation data provider Cirium. The data show that the airline’s flights from UK airports have been more prone to cancellations than those of rivals. Passengers have complained of flights being disrupted at the last minute, hours-long waits for luggage, and calls to the airline’s telephone lines left unanswered. One Saturday morning in February, BA was forced to scrap its entire short-haul schedule after its computer hardware failed. “Sean Doyle has been public that they have a steep mountain to climb over these issues,” said John Strickland, an aviation consultant and former BA executive. “None of it is a quick fix. The only thing they can do is try to keep moving forward.” The figures include long-planned cancellations on flights to Russia or countries where there are still travel restrictions, and BA says the vast majority of the flights are pulled in advance. Only about a dozen flights last week were axed at short notice.<br/>