I cannot say I am surprised with Cruz’ comments. He has had a cut throat attitude throughout his time at IAG and is part of the reason they brought him in from Vueling.
i don’t think you can blame him for this one though, taking everything at face value with the current situation, as it does seem quite a logical decision (as terrible as the loss of circa 12,000 jobs are) with BA the majority loss maker within the group and a reduce in air travel. However, I cannot say I am surprised at this. BA continue to constantly get negative press and they have had numerous issues, especially with crew strikes, and another one of their major issues is the product itself. When AC came and decided to have a major overhaul of the product this hasn’t succeeded IMO. It did bring the prices down versus what they were but a lot of the general public still see and hope that they’re purchasing a premium product when buying a ticket with BA and this isn’t the case IMO. Travelling domestic or SH is no different to EZY and their CW product still isn’t as good as some of their competitors for LH.
This post isn’t a one intended to agree that BA’s actions are justified because I do wholeheartedly believe, despite the current awful pandemic we’re going through, that the majority of these job losses could and would be avoided if AC had not ruined a very good airline.
i also think his statement is terribly worded - having a dig at the competition whilst also saying that they cannot rely on furlough forever. The latter to me, having being employed by BA for a number of years in the past, screams and insinuates to me that the majority of these job losses were already on the radar pre-pandemic and I’d be very surprised if there are current BA employees on this board that do not agree with this.