LONDON – Yesterday, British Airways CEO Sean Doyle signed and wrote an email to all BA customers promising them a better airline in the new post-COVID-19 era.

The email listed out many details on how they would look to fix flaws and issues that had been highlighted inside of the airline during the pandemic with one of the major focuses being on the customer support phone lines.

In the email, Mr. Doyle said: “My number one priority is to address the customer call center issues many of you have experienced and may still be experiencing. In the face of constantly changing and complicated travel restrictions the length of time, it’s taking us to take calls has naturally been longer, which has pushed up our waiting times.”

“We are mid-way through replacing our phone systems to create a better customer experience and are also already recruiting more people to ensure your calls are answered, social media messages are responded to and problems are solved at the moment, wherever possible.”

It is important to note that not all of the issues in regards to how the customers have been treated are the airline’s fault.

While British Airways are indeed the ones making the decisions on how to manage their call centers and customer support lines, constantly changing rules and at times a lack of clear direction for the UK Government on what their rules and restrictions would be on COVID-19 over the last 2 years.

However, now that the UK government has announced the removal of all restrictions on travel it is time for British Airways to once again look to the future and rebuild the airline’s image.

Introduction of Club Suite

The email also listed out that the airline had taken the feedback from customers and confirmed that they would be rolling out their club suite on as many aircraft as they can, as quickly as possible.

While there is no official confirmation, it is likely that we will see the airline roll out the new club at an accelerated level on its long haul fleet first, with the new cabin already deployed on the carriers A350-1000 and Boeing 787-10 aircraft.

In the addition to the Club Suite rollout onto the whole fleet, Sean Doyle mentioned in the email that British Airways would focus on ensuring it can reach an economical and sustainable future.

The airline is working towards carbon neutrality by 2040 however, it recognizes that in this new post COVID world the airline has a chance to be able to redesign and rebuild its image and standing in the new global market.

The airline sent shockwaves through the industry in late 2020 when it announced the immediate retirement of its entire Boeing 747-400 fleet and the reintroduction of its Airbus A380-800 superjumbos and aircraft which many in the industry had expected to see retired globally with airlines financially struggling with the double-decker even in a thriving global aviation market.

However with these aircraft now back in the British Airways active fleet for the foreseeable future, we could be witnessing the final draw of light on double-decker aircraft not just for British Airways but also globally with aircraft such as the Boeing 777X and Airbus A350-1000 being the next generation.