VOLUME 4 NUMBER 4
1994
C E L E B R A T E
A N D R E C O R D
Training People to Deliver
Service Excellence in
British Airways
Mike Street
The Service Delivery department of British
Airways is responsible for the setting, and
consistent delivery, of service standards across the
areas of the airline that “touch” the customer –
check-in, cabin service, catering, baggage
delivery – through well-trained and motivated
staff. Our aim is to provide overall superior
service and good value in every market in which
we compete.
Before 1983 critics liked to say that British
Airways did not care and gave awful service. We
have come a long way since then, and this short
article describes how British Airways has moved
towards the position where it can justifiably call
itself “The World’s Favourite Airline”.
The goal for excellence in customer services is
a dynamic quest, one that reflects the changing
pressures of the economic environment, as keenly
felt in the airline industry as in any other.
But what do we mean by quality in a service
industry?
A service industry is one that provides an
intangible product rather than a physical end-
product. In the airline industry, the product is the
complete air-travel experience. Although it
comprises some physical components, there is no
concrete object at the end of the process. This
leads to several characteristics peculiar to a
service industry where, unlike the manufacturing
industry, the product cannot be judged in isolation
from those who deliver it. There is direct
customer contact since the consumer is present
and active at every stage of delivery and the
standard of service depends at all times on how he
or she is treated and on nothing else. There is
simultaneous production and consumption of the
Managing Service Quality, Vol. 4 No. 4, 1994, pp. 13-16
© MCB University Press, 0960-4259
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product and there is no luxury of being able to
inspect the product for any flaws before it is sold,
as happens in manufacturing industry. We have
one chance, and one chance only, to get it right.
The final special characteristic of the airline
industry is the social process of action and
reaction, and the equation becomes even harder
when we have to accept responsibility for the
customers’ actions as well as our own; and there
is nothing behind which we can hide!
Underpinning all of this has been the evolution of
the industrial process that has seen British
Airways, along with most service providers,
become increasingly a market led company, rather
than a process driven company, as we were in the
past.
We can all recall how airlines, aircraft or
travellers have often been the first sufferers of
economic or political turmoil. For example,
following the American assault on Libya in 1986,
demand for transatlantic seats fell alarmingly
almost overnight.
Airlines have struggled to leave behind them
the economic trough that was preceded by the
Gulf conflict, and several carriers have
disappeared en route, Pan Am and Eastern being
the biggest recent examples. The current
recession continues to cause retrenchment in the
industry; only the best will survive, or perhaps
those subsidized for a variety of motives. We
intend to survive and prosper by being the best.
To do so, we must be in constant touch with the
views and expectations of our customers. To
strive for excellence in a service industry depends
on being able to translate this theoretical
understanding of the nature of business into a
practical, cost effective way of doing business.
Over the last ten years British Airways has
undergone a rapid and massive transformation in
 MANAGING
SERVICE QUALITY
terms of culture and structure. This period of
change dates back to the political upheavals
which resulted in British Airways becoming a
privately owned company, answerable to our
investors and considerably more autonomous than
hitherto. Staff are now encouraged to take more
responsibility for their work and opportunities for
developmental training and a flatter management
structure help to facilitate this change. In this way
the characteristics of a service industry are seen as
opportunities to enhance our reputation.
In the financial year of 1981-1982, British
Airways was losing money at the rate of £200
every minute! Our reputation was poor, we were
over-manned and, generally, in deep trouble. A
survival plan, cutting staff numbers by 40 per
cent, abandoning unprofitable routes and selling
surplus assets was embarked upon, and within
two years the airline had returned to profitability.
However, to ensure long-term success, a
fundamental culture change was required. The
chasm that separates a process driven company
from a market led airline had to be crossed. It was
no longer enough to provide aeroplanes and seats
and schedules to suit. In order to succeed, the
company had to start providing a product which
closely matched the desires of the consumer. Lord
King appointed Sir Colin Marshall as chief
executive in 1983 and set British Airways on the
path of this major re-orientation. He identified
three key business imperatives: to change the
culture, to change staff morale, and to increase
profitability. Since 1983, these changes have been
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spearheaded by four major corporate events
which have set out to communicate to all staff
worldwide.
We set our goal “to be the best and most
successful company in the airline industry” – an
ambitious target and, in order to achieve it, it was
essential for all our staff to adopt a much more
customer-orientated approach to the business. At
that time, staff tended to focus on the routine and
functional aspects of the job. Customers told
British Airways that this was the minimum they
expected; they were also seeking much more in
terms of the behavioural aspects of service such
as warmth, friendliness and attention to individual
needs.
These findings set the direction for the first of
our motivational programmes, under the umbrella
“Putting the customer first – if we don’t someone
else will”. The aim was to focus attention on the
marketplace and the competition. It signalled the
start of a long term strategy to improve service –
an ongoing theme that would become part of the
overall culture of the airline.
Cabin crew have the greatest opportunity to
influence customer perception and therefore one
of the first tasks was to look at the way that they
were recruited and trained. Research showed that
customers wanted to be served by younger
people, with the more experienced crew in
supervisory roles. They wanted a warm and
friendly atmosphere in the cabin and to be treated
as individual not just as part of a rigid cabin
service routine. Therefore, the company started to
 VOLUME 4 NUMBER 4
1994
recruit younger staff who could create this
atmosphere in the cabin, and supervisory crew
were recruited for their management and
leadership skills, rather than just on length of
service. The emphasis of the cabin crew training
course was shifted away from the cabin routines
to the “people” aspects, and the first two weeks of
the training programme were firmly concentrated
on these skills.
The first of the corporate staff programmes was
called “Putting People First” – a one-day event
designed and delivered by external consultants. It
was initially for customer contact staff only, but
was subsequently extended to staff working in all
departments throughout the airline, highlighting
the existence of “internal” and “external”
customers. The day focused not only on the
importance of teamwork and awareness of
customers’ expectations, but also on the
importance of the contribution each individual
makes. It covered four main themes:
(1) being a winner or loser;
(2) owning the problem;
(3) being attentive;
(4) empowerment.
Staff were actively encouraged to become more
involved in recognizing tangible opportunities for
improving the kind of service that was offered. In
fact this was an element that cut through all the
components of the culture change programme –
individual initiative and empowerment – which is
encouraging each and every staff member to “own
the problem”. As a result staff gain more job
satisfaction and, consequently, service is
enhanced, staff turnover diminished and the
customers’ experience enriched.
“Putting People First” set the stage for the
second corporate programme two years later,
known as “A Day in the Life”. This programme
concentrated on teamwork and how each
individual staff member’s contribution was vital if
the company was to achieve its goals – “A Day in
the Life” was run entirely by British Airways
staff.
As with the previous event, a key element in
the success of the programme was the attendance
of either the chief executive or one of the
directors at the end of each day. Support of the top
people was imperative if staff were to believe in
the sincerity of the company when delivering
such a programme.
It was important to recognize that the airline
business had become increasingly competitive
over the past few years, and this formed the basic
message of the third event in 1989 – “To Be the
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Best”. By that time, our competitors were
catching us up, and some were starting to pass us.
“To Be the Best” focused attention on the
competition and the goal to be the best and most
successful company in the airline industry. No
matter how large you are, the competitive threat is
never far away. This is more true today than ever
before.
In 1992/93 we launched our latest initiative
called “Winning for Customers”.
As a market-led company it is essential that
you are in constant touch with customer views
and expectations. It is only through the consistent
delivery of quality that you generate loyalty and
repeat business. British Airways is acutely aware
that it is only as good as its last flight and relies
greatly on feedback from its customers. The
customer research department interviews some
150,000 customers annually at airports around the
world, as well as processing a similar number of
in-flight questionnaires. The customer relations
team has also contact with 150,000 customers per
year and receives a wide range of comments and
queries which are all acknowledged. The
information they provide is analysed and
contributes to the overall drive for quality.
“Winning for Customers” is the airline’s
strategy to take us through the 1990s, in order to
motivate individuals to achieve service excellence
consistently to ensure they build and maintain
customer loyalty. The airline industry operates in
a fast moving market and if an airline is to keep
pace with the market – a matter of survival these
days – it must be able to react rapidly to these
factors. Management must be nimble. It must be
proactive.
Listening to today’s business travellers, it is
clear that life has changed for them. Customer
expectations are higher than ever before, but this
time they are not just higher, they are different
too. In a tougher business environment passengers
are demanding more from the time they spend
travelling. They want to feel relaxed, comfortable
and in control – less hassle, more choice and more
comfort – and that is exactly what British
Airways aims to give them.
In order to grow, an airline needs to market
aggressively to win market share, but it must also
retain the customers it already has. Research
shows that it is five times cheaper to retain an
existing customer than to attract a new one – a
key element that has become the guiding force in
the development of the strategy to achieve service
excellence in the present challenging times.
“Winning for Customers” is what we want all
our staff to do at all times and the main theme of
the latest initiative is that of service recovery.
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SERVICE QUALITY
Like it or not, mistakes do happen. As hard as
you try, you cannot prevent the occasional hiccup
in service delivery. We have probably all heard
stories of people whose baggage is more widely
travelled than they are, of late flights, missed
connections, burnt steaks and long queues. While
some errors are inevitable, dissatisfied customers
are not. British Airways may not be able to
prevent every problem, but it can ensure that it
learns from them and gains accolades from their
recovery.
“Winning for Customers” is attentive both to
the details of customer service excellence and to
the recognition of value. In other words,
achieving an appropriate quality-to-cost ratio is
paramount to meet the customer needs. And what
we seek is the recognition by all our staff of what
we call “The Service Profit Chain”. British
Airways is constantly striving to achieve its
standards of quality at competitive cost levels and
can only do this by careful and detailed
measurement of its performance. In a series of
regular reports that are produced across the
airline, the financial and service performance are
measured side by side to keep the quality and cost
ratio in balance.
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The need for quality and continuous
improvement will inevitably produce tensions as
changes take place. But the British Airways drive
for quality goes on, and we need a way of making
sure that it is integrated and co-ordinated across
the airline. With this in mind, the British Airways
Quality Board has been established which brings
all the quality initiatives within the company
together as a single entity. Everyone must share
the responsibility for quality but top management
must lead. The quality board is led by the airline’s
directors and determines the criteria which make
and deliver a quality business.
British Airways is determined that quality will
reach deep down in the organization, and it is
only through providing a quality and value for
money service that it will maintain a competitive
edge and ensure the long-term success of the
company.
Mike Street is Director of Service Delivery at
British Airways plc.