Willie's not leaving on a jet plane just yet
By Damian Reece
Last Updated: 1:35am GMT 29/03/2008
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/mai...C-mcn_29032008
Should Willie Walsh resign? The comedy of errors at Terminal 5 (funny for us, not so funny for British Airways customers) will go down as one of history's great corporate gaffes.
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The opening days of T5 have resulted in embarrassment as complete as that other London white elephant, the Millennium Dome, whose grand opening was just as dreadful. Each bookmark a period when infrastructure problems have become acute. T5 was supposed to be the answer to at least some of these problems, yet isn't working.
However, just as the Dome finally found a useful purpose as an entertainment venue, T5 will come into its own and very soon. This week's chaos has heaped deserved derision on Walsh and the management of BAA, where chairman Nigel Rudd recently replaced his chief executive, and must call into question Walsh's thought process. How could he allow the most high-profile public relations event in BA's history to fail?
Given the fact that he personally welcomed the Queen to the grand opening of T5, he can hardly shirk his responsibility.
But with lessons learnt, in three months time a smoothly operating T5 will mean that these past few days are a fast receding memory. The chaos will damage BA's reputation a little more but it regularly survives similarly chaotic scenes caused by all manner of issues from the weather to industrial disputes. This will not dent profits, and a 3pc fall in the share price is easily recoverable. In the context of these factors, a Walsh resignation appears too dramatic a reaction.
Am I being as complacent as Walsh was over T5's opening? No, because resignation remains a distinct possibility if, by the end of next month, the situation has not radically improved. This is when flights from T4 should have been moved to the new terminal.
This next phase will now probably have to be delayed for a time, but if that delay is significant, and the recent chaos not resolved, then that will be the time for him to go.