Wow: British Airways CEO Alex Cruz Steps Down

By: Ben Schlappig

Updated: February 3, 2022
Published: October 11, 2020

29 comments

There are some major leadership changes coming at International Airline Group (IAG), which is the parent company of British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, and Vueling.

In this post:

Alex Cruz steps down as British Airways CEO

British Airways CEO Alex Cruz will be stepping down from his role effective immediately, and he’ll be replaced by Aer Lingus CEO Sean Doyle. Cruz will remain on as non-executive Chairman for a transition period.

One thing I’ve never particularly liked about IAG is the extent to which the company simply shuffles around executive positions, rather than hiring from outside. While I can appreciate rewarding loyal employees and creating talent within, I feel the company takes that to an extreme, and that’s why innovation is oh-so-lacking at IAG.

Here are some leadership changes we’re now seeing at IAG:

IAG CEO Willie Walsh recently retired, and was replaced by Iberia CEO Luis Gallego
Aer Lingus’ CEO is taking over as British Airways’ CEO
Aer Lingus’ Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Donal Moriatrty is taking over as interim Aer Lingus CEO, with a permanent replacement to be announced soon
LEVEL CEO Fernando Candela will now be appointed IAG’s Chief Transformation Officer, which makes me wonder what’s ahead for the company

Alex Cruz is stepping down at British Airways

Alex Cruz’s confusing legacy at British Airways

First it’s worth acknowledging that Alex Cruz has had an incredible career in the airline industry, and as an avgeek I respect anyone who has spent decades working in this very tough industry:

Cruz started off working for American Airlines
Cruz was the founding CEO of Spanish low cost carrier Clickair
Clickair merged with Vueling, and then Cruz became CEO of Vueling
In 2016 Cruz became CEO of British Airways

Cruz was the CEO of Spanish low cost carrier Vueling

How did Cruz do leading British Airways?

On the one hand, in some ways British Airways essentially became an ultra low cost carrier under his leadership, when the airline started charging for food and drinks in short haul economy
Furthermore, under Cruz’s leadership British Airways had an IT meltdown, a massive data breach, and continued to have labor problems (though that precedent was set long before Cruz)
On the other hand, British Airways saw its biggest premium cabin product improvement in decades, with the introduction of much improved food & drinks in first & business class, as well as the competitive new Club Suites product

British Airways introduced Club Suites under Cruz’s leadership

Do I love the direction British Airways took under Cruz’s leadership? No, not entirely. But:

I think IAG CEO Willie Walsh was still calling most of the shots
The fact that the CEO of an ultra low cost carrier was appointed CEO of British Airways tells you everything you need to know about the direction he was supposed to take the airline

The writing was on the wall for Cruz “stepping down”

I’m not at all surprised to see Cruz stepping down at British Airways now. While I don’t have any inside knowledge here, it sure seems to me like he may have butted heads with IAG leadership:

When it was announced that Walsh was retiring as IAG CEO, we expected that Cruz would replace him, since the precedent was that the British Airways CEO becomes the IAG CEO
But he was skipped over (the Iberia CEO instead got the role), so clearly something wasn’t going right

That’s also why I’m not surprised to see him now “stepping down” as British Airways’ CEO. What we don’t know is if:

He was forced out of the role
He left voluntarily, because he was mad about being skipped over for the IAG CEO role, and figured at this point there’s no reason to stick around, since it’s not like the position will be particularly lucrative in the next few years

What do we know about British Airways’ new CEO?

When I first heard that Aer Lingus’ CEO was taking over as British Airways’ new CEO, I was kind of excited. Of IAG airlines, Aer Lingus is the airline that impresses me the most by far. The airline has undergone an incredible transformation, and has grown consistently and sustainably.

That being said, I’m not sure Doyle deserves much credit for that:

Doyle was appointed Aer Lingus CEO as of January 2019, so he has been in the role for less than two years, and most of the decisions that got Aer Lingus to this point happened before that
Prior to that, Doyle was British Airways’ Director of Network, Fleet & Alliances
Doyle spent his entire career prior to that at British Airways, as he had been working there since 1998

I wouldn’t expect any fresh ideas here, since we’re seeing someone who has spent his entire career at IAG, as seems to be the case with most of the leadership there.

Aer Lingus has come a long way in recent years

Bottom line

British Airways CEO Alex Cruz is stepping down immediately, and is being replaced by Aer Lingus CEO Sean Doyle.

Personally I don’t have particularly strong feelings here one way or another. IAG simply shuffles around executive positions, so I wouldn’t expect any radical transformation at British Airways, one way or another.

Perhaps the more interesting question revolves around the creation of the new “Chief Transformation Officer” role for IAG.

What do you make of Cruz stepping down as British Airways’ CEO? Are you expecting any major changes?

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Rebecca Guest

October 13, 2020, 12:54 pm

@The nice Paul, If BA were to be sold to QR it will be Al-Baker calling the shots all the way. Great for customers as we will get top notch products. However all staff for back office functions will all be gone abroad if not already done so and cabin and to a certain degree flight crew will all get new contracts on lower rates. Otherwise if QR upped the shareholding Al-Baker will be on the IAG board for sure!

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The nice Paul Diamond

October 13, 2020, 7:14 am

@Kerry “QR would never get permission from the UK to hold a majority” That’s a bold assertion. The UK has consistently demonstrated its willingness to flog off pretty much anything commercial to foreign owners (and don’t forget Qatar is already the owner of vast chunks of UK infrastructure and has huge property holdings in London (the frequency of QR flights between Doha and London is not at all a coincidence, and nor is it coincidence that QR’s flight number 1 flies to London)). I’d be amazed if (post-EU) the current UK government tried to block an attempt by IAG to sell BA to the Qataris. They might even encourage it, seeing it as preferable to it being owned by Spain (with whom the UK’s relationships are already rapidly freezing. British possession of Gibraltar is a running sore to Madrid, and the long-running dispute has only been suppressed because of both countries’ EU membership. With that ending for the UK, expect the EU to pivot behind Spain’s claims to the territory).

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William Q Jones New Member

October 13, 2020, 7:00 am

Rumours are just that - they swirl. You can never say never. The airline world has changed for good. Direction post COVID is totally different to pre COVID. Cash burn of BA is enormous and will continue for the foreseeable future in business terms and IAG does not have unlimited access to cash. The UK state was not prepared to help VA and would not have the capacity to help BA given the skyrocketing UK debt. There is speculation over multiple European airline bankruptcies airing at the moment. Qatar is a very good friend of the UK and the QR CEO is nothing if not very ambitious. I would not bet on anything remaining constant at the moment. Whatever you think about the management changes, the new people have a huge rock to push uphill against a resurgent virus.

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Kerry Diamond

October 13, 2020, 6:43 am

@William Q Jones can you cite any source for the “rumours that IAG May want to sell off BA as a stand-alone airline”? BA has generally been by far the most profitable arm of the group, so I cannot see a situation in which they would flog it off. QR would never get permission from the UK to hold a majority and foreign majority ownership of airlines is barred in the EU as well. Overall this is a positive move - Sean Doyle was a BA exec from the days when they were a world-leading airline, not from a low-cost carrier background. Hopefully he brings a different management philosophy with him and helps to restore some pride (and better labour relations) among BA staff.

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vlcnc Guest

October 13, 2020, 6:31 am

@William Q Jones: Technically QR can't buy a majority stake in BA still as all EU law becomes British Law when we leave the EU at the end of the year. This piece of legislation would have to be individually repealed and new legislation proposed before that could happen.

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