British Airways

British airways (BA) is a flag carrier airline of the united kingdom and it is largest airline based on fleet size, international flights and international destinations. When measured by passengers carried it is second largest, behind easyjet. In 1980’s due to increased competition, fuel costs, a diverse and aging fleet, high staffing cost BA was about to bankrupt. The main issues they were facing are: their money was draining at fast rate, improving BA’s perception in market place. The main reasons for BA’s failure are: lack of proper integration to achieve desired benefits which created management squabbles and resulted in lack of unifying corporate culture. Also, productivity, profit margins and people issues were not considered to be top priorities. The changes brought in by BA include reducing the staff from 52,000 to 43,000 and later on to 35,000 in 1982. BA changed the airline’s image by launching it as “the world’s favourite airline” and raised its advertising budget in order to signal a clear commitment to changing the corporate image. The CEO made customer service a personal crusade and he wanted to achieve operationally driven culture that emphasises productivity and profit while increasing the value placed on customer service. BA put in place few programs to reinforce the need for change and to create desired culture such as: putting people first and managing first. The culture change program fostered a strong commitment to productivity, profits and customer service lifting the company out of bankruptcy to one of the world’s respected airlines.