As part of his transition to the newly created job of Chief Technical Officer, British Airways Chief Operating Officer Jason Mahoney will lose some of his responsibilities.
Mahoney has been BA’s COO since early 2020 when his predecessor was fired during the airline’s first pilot strike in over 40 years.
Mahoney has come under fire in recent months as British Airways has struggled to scale up operations in response to an increase in travel demand following the lifting of pandemic-era restrictions.
As COO, Mahoney was instrumental in orchestrating the airline’s large labor reductions at the outset of the epidemic, but the airline is now facing major manpower shortages, which are thwarting BA’s recovery efforts.
In a recent staff message, CEO Sean Doyle was compelled to confess that customers and employees were “rightly wound up” with BA’s performance over the last few weeks. Following serious IT breakdowns and staff shortages, he has vowed major reforms to get the organization back up and running.
However, resetting operations has resulted in more immediate hardship as British Airways shortened its schedule and canceled flights en masse to lessen demand. Analysts have predicted that the interruption will last into the summer.
Mahoney began his career as an engineering trainee at British Airways in 1989, and following periods at British Midland and the TUI Group, he returned to BA in 2016 as Director of Engineering.
In February 2020, he took over for outgoing COO Klaus Goersch, who announced his leave for personal reasons. His resignation, on the other hand, was thought to be tied to an expensive pilot’s strike.
While the search for a new COO continues, Mahoney has already been relieved of several of his responsibilities. Now he’ll concentrate on the airline’s aircraft maintenance program.
BA announced new roles for its Director of Business Recovery and Chief People Officer earlier this year.
