Sounding Off: Criticizing airlines is easy, changing them will be harder

Alex Cruz

"Airline IT platforms are basically very old. Most at the heart of airlines are, at best, 10 to 15 years old and, at worst, over 50 years old - there are very few exceptions to that."

Quote from Alex Cruz, former British Airways CEO, in an article on PhocusWire this week on the digital naive airline sector.

Each Friday, PhocusWire dissects and debates an industry trend or new development covered by PhocusWire that week.

Alex Cruz's comments this week about the state of the aviation sector's technology provision are damning.

They paint a picture of an industry that is trapped within a infrastructure of its own making, with little enthusiam to try and break free for the benefit of passengers and operations.

Like a politician who has left office and suddenly finds themselves able to speak freely about their previous frustrations, it's easy for Cruz to say such things now given that he's no longer running one of the most high profile airline brands in the world.

But, as our interview with him earlier this year for How I Got Here indicated, he did try to modernize the brand during his tenure at the top of the IAG-owned carrier.

Clearly not enough, it would appear, as British Airways is not identified by him as being exempt from criticism.

So what can be done to address the concerns of Cruz and countless others in the sector?

Plenty, of course - but that ignores the situation that the airline industry currently finds itself in, coming off the back almost 20 months without normal operations.

Many carriers are figuring out how to get their fleets and teams back in the air, within the confines of the restrictions that still remain in many territories.

It's not an easy task. Nor is it likely that airlines are thinking about putting into place the major overhauls of the IT systems that are required, according to Cruz and others.

The first step (and an important one), therefore, is an acceptance that there needs to be a root and branch makeover of the sector's fundamental infrastructure.

And then, with a timeline in place, commit to those changes in the medium term.