Passengers may need to think twice before flying with British Airways (BA) this summer. The United Kingdom’s flag carrier airline, which has its home base at London Heathrow, cancelled 4,033 flights from UK airports in the last twelve months, equating to 2.3 per cent of the industry total.
The figures from consultancy Cirium, first reported by the Financial Times, are nearly double that of Easyjet and are significantly higher than the industry average of 1.4 per cent. They come despite the IAG, the airline conglomerate which includes British Airways among its ranks, posting a record £2.
3bn annual profit last year on soaring demand for travel. Shares in the airline group are up over 10 per cent this year to date. So what’s going wrong? Britain’s national carrier has been plagued by a number of issues over the last few years, including ageing technology and issues at Heathrow, which is running at full capacity.
A technical glitch caused chaos at Heathrow in June as passengers were left stranded and facing hours of delay. It was just the latest in a string of IT failures that have left chief executive Sean Doyle “fed up and frustrated” The Times reported in December that bosses had identified over 600 areas where the airline could improve after many years of decline. It is now planning a £7bn investment, the biggest in its history, to revamp struggling IT systems and invest in improving passenger experience through lounge, food and seating upgrades.
Some £750m will .
