British Airways CEO and chairman Alex Cruz steps down with immediate effect

Alex Cruz will be replaced by boss of Aer Lingus, Sean Doyle.

Alex Cruz will quit from the job of CEO with immediate effect and become a non-executive chairman.

The job is one of the most high profile positions in British business. The decision was made by Luis Gallego, the new chief executive of British Airways and Aer Lingus’s parent company, IAG, in his first major announcement since he took over from Willie Walsh.

Spaniard Alex Cruz, 54, started his career at American Airlines in London before he joined British Airways in 1998. Willie Walsh made him CEO of BA in 2016 after which he started a ruthless cost-cutting campaign, shutting down and outsourcing the airline’s computer systems.

In 2019, pilots walked out during a dispute over pay in a long-running conflict with the Balpa union.

Since this year, the coronavirus crisis led him to launch plans to make up to 12,000 staff redundant and put many older staff on lower-pay, more flexible contracts.