British Airways’ chief executive has said that the airline will not revert to complimentary catering for short-haul economy passengers.
However, Alex Cruz has admitted that the introduction of the controversial “Buy on Board” policy could have been handled better.
This year in January, Mr. Cruz ended BA’s long-established practice of providing drinks and food free of charge to all passengers. The airline brought in Marks & Spencer to provide sandwiches starting at £3.90, while the traditional inflight gin-and-tonic is priced at £6.
The British Airways boss conceded that it was ‘very difficult at the beginning’ but it was absolutely the right decision for BA to take.
Some very short flights had limited take-up. But on a number of longer European flights, particularly returning to the UK, passengers complained that little choice was available or that supplies had run out. Mr. Cruz added that the airline made apologies for that and it has been fixed now. “To be honest, the demand for the product completely surprised us. We had planned similar levels of adoption as some of our sister airlines.”
When asked by a retired BA Concorde pilot whether BA would modify it, Mr. Cruz said that they are not going to modify it and every carrier in the world will be offering food-to-buy for on very short flights as they do.
The chief executive promised that long-haul economy-class passengers, who still receive free food and drink, will see “significant upgrades to catering” from January.
Tags: british airways
