BA CEO Alex Cruz steps down with immediate effect

British Airway’s CEO Alex Cruz has announced plans to step down immediately as the global pandemic wreaks havoc on the airline and the travel industry more broadly. BA’s parent company IG said Cruz had steered the company ‘through a particularly demanding period and has secured restructuring agreements with the vast majority of employees’. The group CEO, Luis Gallego said, ‘We're navigating the worst crisis faced in our industry and I'm confident these internal promotions will ensure IAG is well placed to emerge in a strong position.’ Gallego replaced Willie Walsh last month as IAG’s chief executive.

Sean Doyle will take over as CEO of BA, who comes from Aer Lingus, also owned by IAG. Doyle previously worked at British Airways for 20 years before switching to the Irish carrier in 2016. Cruz remains as a non-executive chairman for BA during a transition period.

British Airways has been in a bitter dispute with unions over pay and redundancies. It has also been undertaking a major restructuring programme after COVID-19’s travel restrictions led to many flight cancellations this year. It is cutting 13,000 staff, with 8,000 jobs already lost. According to Heathrow airport data, 1.2 million passengers traveled in September, that’s down 82% year-on-year. BA was already facing difficulties before the pandemic, with significant workers’ strikes last year.

IAG: technical analysis

Taking a look at the chart of IAG, the stock is trading slightly lower in today’s session. Year-to-date the shares are down more than 83 percent and are languishing close to 2020 lows posted in September. The stock gapped sharply lower in September pushing below key support at 159.30p, a level it tested in May and in August. The next support level looks to be at 90.47p, the 2020 low, with a push below reinforcing the downtrend. Nonetheless there has been some short-term positivity with a slight pick-up this month back above psychological resistance at 100p combined with a buy signal from the RSI which is now back above 30. But with the RSI now pointing lower and the failure to post a higher high or a higher low, the chart continues to look bearish.