In his first public appearance since being named British Airways' new CEO last week, Sean Doyle set out plainly the impact of the pandemic on the airline by comparing its losses during the global financial crisis to today. “During the 2008/09 financial crisis, in quarter one 2009, we lost £309 million. In quarter two this year, we reported a loss of £711 million. That was at the very start of the crisis. It's now October. And we know this is not a short term issue. The huge reduction in travel and especially business travel has forced us to restructure our business. Seeing jobs lost. We sold assets and we said goodbye to our 747 fleet. And we have been working continually to alter our flight schedules, to deal with the changes in travel restrictions and quarantine measures. But this is an industry issue that requires a whole industry response. We all need to work together right now to revive our industry.”
Doyle said that the airline believes the risk to public health of flying is low after the industry body IATA suggested that since the start of 2020 there have been as few as 44 cases of COVID-19 linked to flights. Over the same period some 1.2 billion passengers have travelled.
Doyle continued: "The safety of our customers and crew is always our priority, and we are taking every safety measure to keep our customers safe. This is a multi-faceted approach and includes minimising contact, sanitising our aircraft from nose to tail and asking customers and crew to wear face masks at all times, unless they have a medical exemption. In the cabin, air is completely replaced every 2 to 3 minutes, passing through HEPA filters which remove microscopic bacteria and virus clusters with over a 99.9 per cent efficiency, equivalent to hospital operating theatre standards."
He further confirmed that British Airways does not believe quarantine is the long-term solution, saying: "We believe the best way to reassure people is to introduce a reliable and affordable test before flying. For the UK this approach reduces the stress on NHS testing systems within the UK and on policing the quarantine system."
Doyle and BA are in full support of rapid pre-departure testing, not least to ensure air connectivity is opened again between the US and the UK, which Doyle describes as fundamental to the economic growth and trade for both countries. He also calls for a travel corridor agreement between the US and the UK that has not quarantine restrictions in place.
He warns that without these measures, the industry may not survive this crisis.