Also he broke the Boeing stranglehold on BA by going for the A320 which from a passenger ' point of view is much much better than the 737 with more elebow room and beettr cabin ergonomics so he wasnt a complete idiot.
He went on record saying it came down to the price Airbus offered versus Boeings and "it wasn't a very difficult decision at all". It's just hard airline economics as it always is. It was Airbus that broke the Boeing stranglehold at BA and not Ayling.