View Full Version : The Ayling expertise
Cornish Jack
8th Oct 2001, 11:01
Was I really the only member to hear the interview with the great man on Beeb's R4 yesterday morning?
For those who missed the occasion our erstwhile aviation management expert was being quizzed by one of the Beeb's 'Seamus Android' talking heads.
I can only marvel that two people can converse on a matter of huge importance (even to those outside the aviation industry) and say so little. If nothing else, it pointed up just why Birdseed got itself into the situation it was in (prior to WTC).
Can u give us a bit more info pls? I mean, it hardly sounds worth making a post about it if you aren't going to give a bit more detail! :rolleyes:
low flyer
9th Oct 2001, 00:23
Listen to it for yourselves:
BBC R4 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/cta/radioseq/bh.ram)
You want to be about 20 minutes into the programme.
I'm not sure he exactly set the heather on fire. Mainly that airlines need to become global companies and not be tied to the traditional flag carrier role. Nothing startling given what he did at BA.
Cornish Jack
9th Oct 2001, 11:26
Thanks Low Flyer, that was exactly the point. Here we have someone who spent some considerable time in the top echelons of, and at the head of, a major airline. He was interviewed for much longer than the usual soundbite 30 seconds. In spite of that, both he and the cloth-head interviewer managed to avoid anything of consequence. As I said previously, no wonder Birdseed went the way it did.
The erstwhile leader of the worlds favourite, was quoted in the press shortly after Sept 11 saying that he did not see the need for pilots as the technology exists for pilotless aircraft.
Now I really know where Big Airways lost the plot. Bob really doesn't know anything about aeroplanes, people,life,art,art,art,marketing, art,.....
Island Air
9th Oct 2001, 19:21
Chatham, if you think that of Bob, just wait and see the state of Big Airways after Rod has finished with it. He weakened morale at Cathay, and destroyed Ansett. How do guys like these even get jobs...? :mad:
Stop Stop Stop
10th Oct 2001, 02:38
These guys get their high flying jobs by being tough... hatchet men if you like. They do not try to be popular... the bottom line on the balance sheet is how they are appraised by the board.
How Ayling lated as long as he did I just do not know. He cocked up BA and was partially responsible for the Dome fiasco. I notice the other day that he has somehow got a 'Gong'. Sir Bob Ayling... amazing :mad:
SSS
(Also from Chatham Dockyard)
[ 09 October 2001: Message edited by: Stop Stop Stop ]