Bumpy ride for BA chairman

THE wildcat strikes that have plunged Heathrow into chaos since Friday have cost British Airways up to £30m in lost revenues and threaten the airline's desperate attempts to recover from the worst crisis in its history.

An industry slump and growing competition from low-cost airlines sent BA plunging to a £200m loss in 2002, its first since privatisation in the 1980s. This dispute threatens further losses. Analysts were already expecting little better than breakeven for the year to next March.

'This is supposed to be the airline's biggest and most profitable quarter,' warns analyst Chris Tarry, at independent consultancy CTAIRA. 'As long as the uncertainty remains, people are not going to rush to book with BA.' It is more vulnerable than in the past because 'this is now a late-booking market'.

The strike is another storm cloud over the business empire of chairman Lord Marshall, 69. It comes as he prepares to stand down today from his other £250,000-a-year part-time job, as chairman of struggling engineer Invensys. He is expected to hand over at British Airways next year.

It has not been Marshall's year. Engineer Invensys is selling two thirds of its operations to stave off a debt crisis. Humiliation has also been heaped on Britain in Europe's campaign for entry to the euro, which Marshall chairs.

At his peak, five years ago, Marshall was paid £750,000 a year and ruled the roost at four blue-chip firms. He was simultaneously chairman of BA, engineer Siebe and former imperial trading group Inchcape. He was also deputy chairman and senior independent director at BT.

Shares in all four companies performed disastrously on Marshall's watch. Inchcape hit bottom during his final month and quadrupled in the three years since.

Marshall's defenders argue he was at four companies at a time of unprecedented global pressures. BA has weathered the storms better than rivals such as United Airlines, which plunged into bankruptcy protection. The seeds of Inchcape's recovery were sown while Marshall was in the chair.

Chief executives praise him. He deserves credit for admitting mistakes at Invensys, especially over the disastrous acquisition of Dutch software albatross Baan.

Critics argue he was too slow to recognise problems. He stuck with chief executives - such as Bob Ayling at BA, Allen Yurko at Invensys and Sir Peter Bonfield at BT - long after they needed to be replaced. He failed to stop Bonfield's costly overseas expansion at BT.

He allowed Siebe to be hitched to lame BTR and then to take over Baan. He reportedly tried to slow chief executive Rod Eddington's badly-needed cuts in BA's network.

Invensys shareholders are praying for an Inchcape-type revival. The group hopes to beat its targets for disposals.

It is assumed, though unconfirmed, that Marshall will stand down from BA next year. His final year is proving as turbulent as ever.