Álex Cruz de Llano (born 1966) is a Spanish businessman who is known as the former chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of

British Airways British Airways plc (BA) is the flag carrier of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main Airline hub, hub at Heathrow Airport. The airline is the second largest UK-based carrier, based on fleet size and pass ...

and former CEO of

Vueling Vueling S.A. (, ) is a List of airlines of Spain, Spanish low-cost airline based at Viladecans in Greater Barcelona with operating bases at Barcelona–El Prat Airport (main); Orly Airport, Paris-Orly Airport in Paris, France; Schiphol Airport, ...

Early life

Cruz was born and grew up in

Bilbao Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...

, in the Spanish province of

Biscay Biscay ( ; ; ), is a province of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Autonomous Community, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the Bay of Biscay, eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilb ...

. He studied engineering at

Central Michigan University Central Michigan University (CMU) is a Public university, public research university in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, United States. It was established in 1892 as a private normal school and became a state institution in 1895. CMU is one of the eigh ...

Mount Pleasant, Michigan Mount Pleasant is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The city is the county seat of Isabella County, which is part of Central Michigan. The population of Mount Pleasant was 21,688 as of the 2020 census. The city is surrounded by Union Char ...

from 1984 to 1988. He gained an MSc from

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

, studying there from 1988 to 1990. In 1993, he attended an executive education program at Cox School of Business at

Southern Methodist University Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a Private university, private research university in Dallas, Texas, United States, with a satellite campus in Taos County, New Mexico. SMU was founded on April 17, 1911, by the Methodist Episcopal Church, ...

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, Texas, while he was working for

American Airlines American Airlines, Inc. is a major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, and is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the ...

Career

Vueling

In summer 2006, Cruz became the founding CEO of Clickair, a low-cost airline. This became part of

in July 2009; Spain's second-largest airline with 163 destinations.

British Airways

In November 2015, Cruz was hired by the CEO of

International Airlines Group International Consolidated Airlines Group S.A., Trade name, trading as International Airlines Group and usually shortened to IAG, is a British-Spanish Multinational corporation, multinational airline holding company with its registered office in ...

, Willie Walsh, as the next CEO and chairman of British Airways, to begin in April 2016. International Airlines Group, the owner of British Airways, also owns Vueling. Cruz succeeded Keith Williams. In 2016 Cruz made 700 British Airways employees redundant when he closed down the airline's computer department. He then outsourced the company's computer systems to the Indian company

Tata Consultancy Services Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is an Indian Multinational corporation, multinational technology company specializing in information technology services and consulting. Headquartered in Mumbai, it is a part of the Tata Group and operates in 150 ...

, drawing negative comment from a trade unionist. On 7 September 2018, British Airways announced that their online reservation systems had been accessed by an unauthorised third party. Between 21 August 2018 and 5 September 2018, the sensitive data of more than 420,000 British Airways customers was compromised. Initially, BA was fined £183 million by the Information Commissioner’s Office – a regulator – for the breach. However, in October 2020 a decision was granted to levy the fine, reducing it to £20 million. In 2019 Álex Cruz de Llano oversaw the successful beginning of a UK air service to

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

, making it the first Western airline in the country for ten years. On the

environmental impact of aviation Aircraft engines produce gases, noise, and particulates from fossil fuel combustion, raising environmental concerns over their global effects and their effects on local air quality. Jet airliners contribute to climate change by emitting ...

, he said in August 2019 that British Airways and its competitors had to start "thinking about flying in different ways". In April 2020, during the global collapse in air travel brought along by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, he told British Airways' staff that he had set out plans to make up to 12,000 of them redundant.

Unite the Union Unite the Union, commonly known as Unite, is a trade union in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland, formed on 1 May 2007 by the merger of Amicus (trade union), Amicus and the Transport and General Workers' Union. A general union ...

decried the move as "heartless", saying "to reject government support but then expect their own staff to pay the cost... is irresponsible, dangerous and destructive". On 12 October 2020, it was announced that Sean Doyle, CEO of

Aer Lingus Aer Lingus ( ; an anglicisation of the Irish language, Irish , meaning "air fleet") is an Irish airline company which is the flag carrier of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Founded by the Irish Government, it was privatised between 2006 and 201 ...

(also part of

(IAG)) would succeed Cruz as CEO of British Airways. The move was carried out by IAG's new CEO Luis Gallego. There was a transition period in which he remained as non-executive chairman at British Airways in the run-up to Doyle also taking over that role in April 2021.

Personal life

He is married with four children, and lives in

North London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames and the City of London. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshi ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cruz, Alex 1966 births American Airlines people British Airways people Central Michigan University alumni Chief executives in the airline industry Iberia (airline) Ohio State University alumni Businesspeople from Bilbao Spanish chief executives Spanish company founders Living people Date of birth missing (living people) 20th-century Spanish businesspeople 21st-century Spanish businesspeople