Operations
Our Operations team is responsible for the planning and control of the worldwide operation, with ultimate accountability for network punctuality and baggage performance. It is responsible for the planning of ground resources and of both flight and cabin crew. The team is also responsible for operational scheduling of aircraft, ensuring they are available to fly the schedule and, with Engineering, for maintenance. Control of this operation is particularly important when the schedule is disrupted, for example, due to weather conditions. At such times it is our Operations team that decides how to reschedule aircraft, crew and resources.
Operations also incorporates British Airways World Cargo (BAWC), responsible for our cargo network. The majority of cargo is carried in the holds of passenger aircraft, with the balance in third-party freighter aircraft. In the UK, BAWC has handling facilities at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted airports. With the exception of the US, all overseas handling is subcontracted.
Customer Service
The Customer Services directorate was created in November 2007 as part of our commitment to upgrade the customer experience. The new directorate brings together all staff involved in the customer journey, including contact centres, customer relations and passenger services on the ground and in flight.
At our main hub, Heathrow, our passenger services team is responsible for check-in, boarding and special services including assistance for children travelling alone and passengers with disabilities. The worldwide airport solutions team ensures the same level of service is provided by our third-party agents at airports around the network.
Throughout 2007/08, customer service staff prepared for our move to Terminal 5. These preparations included, amongst other things, improvements at our contact centres to support increased online check-in and training on new processes and systems in the terminal.
Information Management
IT is increasingly important to us. It is helping us to reduce costs, simplify our processes and automate complex manual tasks. Our website, britishairways.com, provides customers with the ability to book and check-in for flights online and, thanks to recent developments, now also provides revenue from ancillary sales.
There has been significant investment in IT at Terminal 5. This includes both infrastructure to run the terminal and systems to ensure passengers are ‘ready to fly’ before they reach the airport. Self-service check-in will eventually reduce queues and significantly improve the airport experience for our customers.
IT has transformed the way all our staff interact, thanks to our Employee Self Service (ESS) programme. Almost all our staff now use ESS every month and the system will eventually become the place where everyone can find the information and systems they need to do their job.
IT also plays an important role in helping us manage our environmental impact. The power used by our data centres has remained the same despite a big increase in the number of processors we use. Our new notebook laptops are 70 per cent more power efficient and personal computers are automatically powered off overnight. Whenever we dispose of PCs and laptops we follow ‘Waste – Electrical & Electronic Equipment’ (WEEE) principles and we donate reconditioned PCs to charities we support in the UK and overseas.