CX might have wanted to buy BA 747s, but it wouldn't be BA selling them! Here's a 'secret'. On all BA 747 Flight Decks, there is a little metal plaque riveted to the wall saying "This aeroplane is owned by Mitsubishi Leasing Bank leased to blah blah blah'. They are all leased by BA. So dead easy to get rid of.....but they are being filled. And thanks to Ailing who totally ballsed up the seating configuration with his drive to get rid of the backpackers and only carry premium pax (just when premium pax started tightening their belts when their share portfolios slumped), the seating capacity for almost all BA long haul aeroplanes is screwed up. We are filling 747s up with 259 people when we could have got 409 on, involuntarily upgrading into Club seats galore. Good for pax, but not for the bottom line.
Another in a long line of brilliant managerial decisions! For such as that, he walked off with millions, and now the House of Lords? An employee screws up and gets fired, a Director gets to win the lottery. Look how rich the Directors who brought Marconi down got! Heaven help us- he's going to 'help' run the country now!