Major disruption
Mr Gallego will take over as head of the holding company of British Airways after the airline saw major disruption last year. For the first time in its 100-year history, BA pilots went on strike in a long-running pay dispute. In November, dozens of British Airways flights were also delayed or cancelled because of a "technical issue". The airline also faced a £183m fine in July for a customer data breach.Challenges to consider
Mr Walsh was boss at British Airways and then IAG for 15 years, more than triple the normal lifespan of a FTSE-100 chief executive. Arguably, though, he achieved more than all of his predecessors put together since the airline was privatised in 1987. Previous leaders at BA had tried to do deals with rivals to reduce the company's reliance on a single market - the UK - and a single airport - Heathrow. They had tried to reduce the power of unions at the company, to tackle its potentially ruinous pension deficit and to restore it to steady profitability. Mr Walsh managed to do all four. But his critics will counter that in doing so, he hurt the airline's status and turned British Airways from the "world's favourite", as its marketing claimed, to a run-of-the mill carrier. He arrived at BA from Aer Lingus in 2005, an unfancied choice to replace the cerebral Australian Rod Eddington. Mr Eddington had been hired, in the words of one board member at the time, "to put a smile on people's faces". Mr Walsh never showed any sign of being interested in popularity contests and had a distinctly down-to-earth approach to management. BA had tried to do deals with Air France, KLM of the Netherlands and various other potential partners - to no avail. Mr Walsh quickly tied up a deal with Iberia and followed on with Aer Lingus, turning BA into the largest player in a multi-airline group, IAG. Generous terms and conditions for flight crew were gradually whittled down, and he was able to put enough money into BA's two big pension schemes that big chunks of the remaining liabilities could be hived off to insurance companies. In the process, though, BA has gradually slipped down consumer rankings. Last month, Which? put it alongside Ryanair as one of the UK's least-favourite airlines, while it has suffered from embarrassing IT glitches. Mr Walsh's successor, the current boss of Iberia, Luis Gallego, will have to consider how to address this challenge when he takes over at the end of June.Long-running feud
Mr Gallego is unlikely to continue one of the aviation industry's best-known feuds. Both Willie Walsh and Sir Richard Branson claimed to have won a previous bet over the survival of Virgin Atlantic. Mr Walsh suggested that Branson's brand could disappear after Delta Airlines purchased a 49% stake. In a blog post, Sir Richard said the stakes were high - "a knee in the groin" if the company folded within five years. Other spats have taken place between Virgin Atlantic and BA. Virgin launched a campaign against BA's proposed merger with American Airlines in the 1990s, with some planes painted "No Way BA/AA". Sir Richard Branson also won damages and an apology from BA at the High Court in 1993 after BA allegedly gave negative stories about the Virgin founder to the media.DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.
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