The chairman of Marks & Spencer has hit out at British Airways, saying it was “sad to see a great airline deteriorate” after a series of flight issues.
Archie Norman criticised the company in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, claiming his flight had been “cancelled then delayed” for the third time this year.
Mr Norman’s assessment is likely to rankle given the M&S chairman’s stature in the business world. The City grandee is renowned for turning around underperforming businesses, credited with a revival at Asda while chief executive in the 1990s and overseeing the current improvement at M&S.
His criticism of BA comes after recent figures revealed that the airline was one of the UK’s worst for delays and cancellations.
Almost 3pc of BA flights were cancelled last year, according to data from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and analysts OAG. By contrast, Ryanair cancelled 0.34pc of its flights and easyJet 1.5pc.
British Airways flights had an average delay of 22.3 minutes in 2023, compared to 21.5 minutes for easyJet and 19.8 minutes for Ryanair.
