Programme recovery to become the World’s Favourite Airline
British Airways are the flag carrier airline for the UK and strive to offer a premium service to their customers. They are a truly global brand, with operations at all major airports across the world and were at one point, the world’s favourite airline. They are part of the International Airlines Group which also owns brands such as Iberia, Aer Lingus and BA CityFlyer.
The Challenge British Airways appointed Project One to lead the recovery of a stalled, multi-million- pound transformation programme aimed at restructuring its Global Engagement Centres across India, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Europe. Post-pandemic challenges included improving customer service while cutting operational costs. A Market Review was launched to determine site rationalisation and relocation, while the concurrent ‘Contact Centre Futures’ telephony upgrade was paused to avoid deploying technology to sites slated for closure. Both initiatives were merged into the Global Footprint Programme, but growing complexity caused it to stall with no clear path to recovery. Failure to deliver would leave BA with high- cost centres, fragmented technologies, and no unified customer view, compromising the viability of its in-house operations.
Our Approach The initial phase kicked off with a clear mission: uncover why the Global Footprint programme had ground to a halt. We engaged decision-makers, reviewed governance, dove deep into every project, assessed in-house capabilities, audited supplier health, and mapped out the true funding position: One-on-one stakeholder interviews to pinpoint any concerns Governance review to expose gaps in escalation and decision making Project deep dives revealing immature processes and capability shortfalls Supplier performance audit highlighting broken relationships Funding analysis showing spend vs. delivery blind spots. The team was stuck in reactive mode, morale was rock-bottom, and weekly steering groups had become nothing more than status-update rituals with no real power to unblock issues. To turn things around, the Programme Director launched five tight interventions: Rebuilt trust through targeted 1:1s with every key stakeholder Slimmed steering groups to monthly, decision- and-escalation forums with execs co-opted Installed a new PMO Lead and seasoned project managers for structure and collaboration Reset supplier ties via executive sponsorship and quarterly, in-person planning workshops Instituted weekly project-level finance checks and monthly deep dives with Finance Within weeks the programme snapped back to Green, team energy surged, and several client colleagues even asked the Programme Director for ongoing mentorship.
“Project One have really helped us to embed better project and programme management capabilities within the team, enabling us to deliver for our customers, for our colleagues and for the business. They are professional, highly skilled, outcome-focused, and they integrate really well with my team.” Director of Customer Care British Airways
The Value Add and Outcomes The Global Footprint Programme delivered all new Global Engagement Centres ahead of schedule and at least 10% under budget over two years. In Greater Delhi, CallBA’s modern offices have driven productivity, colleague engagement, and customer satisfaction. Outsourced operations in Kuala Lumpur and Bucharest consistently met performance targets. The programme now saves British Airways millions annually, while Project One has upskilled internal teams and embedded lasting transformation capabilities. The overall impact: Rescued a stalled, overspending programme through structured recovery Built trusted relationships, notably with the Director of Customer Care Brought deep transformation expertise and upskilled customer teams across all departments.
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real change • real difference
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