About

Team size: Just under 100

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last year?

A combination of investigations, litigations, a judicial review we started, some shareholders trying to oust several executives and the successful organisation of a number of general meetings were the major standout projects. In terms of the latter of these, we could not do what others were doing and hold these meetings behind closed doors – they had to be with live voting, live questions and streamed to all our investors. In total, we organised four general meetings in 2020, two annual general meetings and two general meetings.

Continuing with the list of achievements, we raised liquidity via a number of avenues including an equity placement a Covid Corporate Financing Facility, UK Export Finance, the sale and leasebacks of aircraft, loans, bonds and renegotiating contracts with suppliers. We also restructured the workforce, negotiating with unions in the process. Last but by no means least, we encouraged and empowered the team to do the right thing, providing clear lines of escalation and delivering messages into the management and Plc Board. Throughout it all, we managed to keep on smiling, leading the team with energy, compassion and enthusiasm with a relentless focus on ensuring the wellbeing of the team and always keeping people front of mind. This was quite the year!

Has home working inspired any innovation in terms of the way you or your team work? Are there any standout products or tech you now use that you never did before?

We have adopted Microsoft Teams and have found many digital ways to engage differently within the team. Overall, it has been less about the tools and more about the willingness to do things differently. I have found digital meetings a leveller where people have enjoyed more of an equal voice in a conversation, as well.

Even in the best-case scenario, Covid is likely to have far-reaching ramifications. How are you safeguarding the long-term health of the business?

It is well known that the aviation sector has been one of the hardest hit by this pandemic. We know people want to travel, see their friends and relatives and have a holiday – so we keep focused and are putting ourselves in the best position to offer this as soon as this is possible again, always with safety at the heart of everything we do. We have availed ourselves of the finances necessary to keep going in the meantime and are continuously looking at all of our options. We continue to have a huge focus on our people and are currently focused, as no doubt most companies are, on new ways of working; we have learned an enormous amount along the way and are looking to take this forward. Our commitment to the environment and sustainability has remained despite the pandemic, and we continue to take the short-term actions we can take now (offsetting is a good example of this, and we are still the only major airline that offsets all its carbon from flying across its entire network). We are also investing for the future, whether than is through the use of electricity; hydrogen, SAFs or DACCs – or a combination thereof. The answer in my view should not be to stop flying – but to fly in a more responsible way.

Have the complex legal ramifications of Brexit elevated the GC function within your company?

Not Brexit alone; in the grand scheme of things, Brexit was something we were operationally well prepared for. The importance of my function was highlighted through all of the above crises we were facing during 2020 and which continue in 2021.