I’ve never been a fan of outgoing British Airways CEO Alex Cruz, but I also don’t like to dance on a man’s grave, literally or figuratively. Nevertheless, here is my measured assessment of his legacy at British Airways.
First, British media is suggesting this morning that Cruz was forced out by incoming IAG CEO Luis Gallego’s wish to “flex his muscles” in his new role as chief. That is an unconfirmed tabloid report, but it makes little sense Cruz would leave of his own volition in the midst of a crisis.
Alex Cruz Legacy: The Pros
Let’s start with what Cruz did well or what was accomplished at British Airways under his tenure.
I thought his final defense before Parliament concerning the labor actions British Airways had threatened was nothing short of masterful. He was asked to defend the indefensible and did a darn good job of it. In fact, he even had me convinced momentarily. I do not say that facetiously. Quite the contrary, my point is that he had both political and oratorical skills that clearly served him well.
Second, I still love flying British Airways in a premium cabin. In fact, prior to the pandemic the experience was better than ever, with a tasty new catering partnership with Do & Co and an investment in a new Club World Suite that marked a huge positive evolution of the BA business class product.
Finally, he was sent in to build profits and did exactly that. I don’t hold the pandemic (itself) against him.
Alex Cruz Legacy: The Cons
The IT meltdown (which cost BA £80 million) and data breaches (which cost BA a fine of £183.4 million) were certainly low points under his watch, but not the lowest point.
I’d say the lowest point was Cruz’s seeming disdain for employees throughout his tenure but particularly after the pandemic hit. The 2019 pilot strike was bad: that left nearly 200,000 passengers stranded after 1,700 fights were canceled. But by threatening to fire every flight attendant and rehire them at much lower wages, Cruz acted penny wise, pound foolish. His actions showed not just a superficial desire to save the company, but disdain for employees, especially as he continued to rake in a huge salary. That compromised his ultimate goal.
All this as BA richly benefited from the allocation of the majority of slots at London Heathrow from the UK government, a deal that implied a reciprocal obligation to treat staff with respect.
Some have alleged that Cruz was simply on the puppet strings of recently-retired IAG CEO Willie Walsh, who ran British Airways for many years prior to Cruz. That may have been the case, but that does not absolve Cruz of his actions. Quite the contrary, it implicates him not only as a poor leader, but a weak one.
Finally, BA’s evisceration of free meals and especially drinks onboard while reducing legroom made it a low-cost-carreir on shorthaul flights. In fact, Ryanair and EasyJet offered better seat pitch in economy class than did BA. I suppose that is hardly a surprise considering Cruz came from Vueling, but I found the British Airways economy shorthaul product simply unbearable.
CONCLUSION
Cruz did not have an easy job. I wish him all the best going forward. He leaves a mixed legacy. Unfortunately, it is too soon to say whether I will miss him or not. I hope incoming CEO Sean Doyle will not make us all wish for Cruz to return. But it’s too early to tell. Adiós…
“Second, I still love flying British Airways in a premium cabin. In fact, prior to the pandemic the experience was better than ever, with a tasty new catering partnership with Do & Co and an investment in a new Club World Suite that marked a huge positive evolution of the BA business class product.”
I disagree here. Not so much with your assessment, but with how World Traveller Plus – which is the equivalent to what Virgin Atlantic calls *Premium* – is never included in that label. That cabin always felt like “economy plus” compared to how VS views it as a separate “better than economy” cabin.
Over his entire tenure that cabin got new upholstery and…. thats it.
I actually enjoyed the Premium Economy experience from LHR-LAX. I thought the upgraded meal, blanket, and amenity kit were all nice.
https://liveandletsfly.com/british-airways-747-premium-economy-review/
A non British person leading a British company? Good luck with that. He last way too long.
@Santistico, Rod Eddington is Australian, Willie Walsh is Irish, Alex Cruz is Spanish and Sean Doyle also Irish. meaning four out of the five last CEOs (since 2000) were not British, Keith Williams is English. Inherently I don’t think the nationality of the CEO matters much as long as the product is decent and improving, that is the bit that should be up for debate, though as noticed the premium cabins have seen significant improvements over the last few years, though a bit late after the damage to the reputation caused by shorthaul reductions, data leaks and IT issues, completely ignoring the cluster the pandemic caused…
@EJC: maybe I was not very specific. I wanted to say Great Britain (England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland). Australia used to be a British colony. Ireland is part of the Great Britain (that is what I wanted to convene when I said British). Thus, a Spanish guy is clearly an outlier. I worked for a British company and I am not British. It is a very difficult culture to fit in if you are not one of them. It could have nothing to do with Alex being let go but I can guarantee you his life was not easy there.
“The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland” does not include Ireland.
Whatever Mr. Geography, you got my point. A Spanish guy running a UK company is a hard one.
When I applied of a job at BA years ago and made it thru all the rounds up to the very last one I was told: look WE at BA promote Discretion, conservativeness, stuffiness,,, in one word ALL ROUND BRITISH-NESS, and unfortunately You ain’t (you’re outspoken, tactless, flamboyant, load, direct….like an American, I corrected them-i’m Canadian…to them though…it’s the same!) back to Mr. Cruz though- The saga of BA & Mr Cruz is a classic from the book example of what happens when You put Hunday’s CEO to run Ferrari….a disaster. I personally think Mr Willy (Wanker) Welsh is the bigger putz (dire empoverished childhood in Ireland?-c’mon get over it-we’ve all been thru our own “empoverished childhoods in Irelands” ) that Mr Cruz was the pawn of Willy Wanker-i have no doubt, but why I blame Willy and not Alex is because (like the saying goes):”it aint the crazy the one who foolishly wastes the treasure, but the one who gives it to him” (I always had a very heated arguments with my late father about people like Cruz…like Walsh…my dad would say that commoners due to their origin are ALWAYS EXCUSED no matter what stupidity or foolishness they do-THEY DON’T KNOW ANY BETTER! (you cant be angry at a puppy who poops on the carpet. The puppy doesnt know any better. ) To which Id always demand that all people are equal-therefore all are equally responsible it doesnt matter that one has higher position of power or makes more money. we all are equally responsible for our actions. My dad never agree to that. (He always told me to shove all my equality talks…you know where….)
@Santastico: I got your point and totally agreed with you. It was really strange to have a Spanish to control a British company. These days, we really don’t know what the boards are thinking. Benjamin “Ben” Smith, a Canadian is the CEO of Air France-KLM. And we don’t have to look far, in our country, CEO’s of Google, Microsoft, Novartis, Pepsi (in the past) are all Indian. Maybe it is a trend to be… cool to have an Indian CEO 🙂
Cruz simply continued what Walsh had started in the destruction of BA as a world class airline. Instead of illustrating to customers that BA was worth a premium, Cruz raced to make the airline worse. That’s like the old quote attributed to United that goes something like “We may not have started the race to the bottom but by god we intend to win it!” Sure enough, Cruz “won”.
Agree. One doubts his legacy will be seen as anything much more than being the organ grinder’s monkey. If he’d had a free rein things might have been better…
(from a title of a future best-seller) BA’s ALEX CRUZ: The DIFFERENS BETWEEN “P” & “T” in LEADERSHIP vs LEADER[redacted by admin]