There is more to come, with BA’s Gatwick long-haul Boeing 777 fleet becoming 10 abreast in economy next January, instead of nine. This will upset many on their once-in-a-lifetime Caribbean holiday, but Cruz argues
he is only following the likes of Emirates and Cathay Pacific. More explicitly, since the Heathrow 777 fleet will initially remain nine abreast, he is aiming at Norwegian, claiming that adding 52 extra seats to economy will match his rival’s per seat costs.

BA and IAG seem to have something of an obsession with Norwegian, having launched flights to several of its destinations. Perhaps with good reason, as Norwegian and Iceland’s Wow Air are shaking up the transatlantic market. Wow Air follows this month’s launch of Miami with Chicago and Pittsburgh later this year, and next year will receive its first wide-body aircraft. These four Airbus A330-900s will reduce per seat costs by 14%, meaning even lower fares and more pressure for carriers like BA.

Wow Air told TTG the new 365-seat, all-economy aircraft would operate “certain flights” from Gatwick. Its intention is to gain a European Union licence to eventually bypass Reykjavik and go direct to the US, although Brexit may slow this.

IAG’s response, in addition to Cruz’s cost-cutting at BA, has been to set up its own budget long-haul brand called Level, flying from Barcelona to the US and South America, chiefly on routes that Norwegian offers from Spain. Again, IAG is not the first to do this, with Lufthansa already offering long-haul on its Eurowings brand. Low-cost brands mean the parent carrier can keep its own name separate, without affecting its original brand. So might Level appear in the UK?

“I’m not sure it will,” says Strickland. “IAG is already offering low fares through Aer Lingus from Dublin and Shannon and they are densifying the BA 777s.”

Increased competition

Another sign of the influence of Norwegian and Wow Air came last week. TAP Portugal launched four new economy and two business class fare categories on flights to North and South America and Africa. Its new Discount brand includes only carry-on luggage, while the more expensive Plus brand permits ticket changes, three 23kg bags and other perks. TAP claims the changes are offering customers “more freedom of choice”.

And where do travel agents fit in? Strickland believes that although GDSs have lowered costs to compete against direct web sales, airlines like BA will not run to the trade for support in the fight against airlines such as Wow Air.

In BA’s case, it may have to tread carefully to garner trade goodwill. Agent Nicholas Harding-McKay of London’s Travel Designers, is forthright. “For short-haul, unless clients want a premium cabin, I tell them there’s no difference [between easyJet and BA], it comes down to price and timing. In long-haul, BA needs to decide what it wants to do – is it trying to become a hybrid of easyJet and Norwegian?”

He adds: “Going eastwards I always recommend a Middle East carrier and I’ve just travelled in Thomson’s Premium cabin; I’d recommend that over BA’s premium economy any day.”

For Welwyn’s Off Broadway Travel, a luxury specialist in the Luton airport catchment area, easyJet is a popular option. “Most of our clients think easyJet is better than BA, but perhaps that’s a perception thing,” says founder Tricia Conroy Smith.

“I don’t think clients will be happy if BA goes completely like a low-cost carrier. BA is the national carrier so people can feel disappointed with the offering [because expectations are generally higher]. If they do BOB on long-haul I would expect there to be uproar and we will sell against them. But then again clients might think about the money they are saving.”

All these issues arise as Virgin Atlantic predicts a loss this year. It has ruled out any kind of budget offshoot and Virgin president Sir Richard Branson has said he does not want to “bastardise the product”, but Branson was speaking at the launch of his Seattle route, revealed days later as Norwegian’s latest destination, so something may have to give.

Meanwhile, Virgin and others watch BA take the flak. Asked by TTG if BA had gone too far, Phil Maher, Virgin’s executive vice president operations, said: “I think Alex [Cruz] is his own man who has made his own decision for his own company and certainly the feedback he is receiving would suggest his customers don’t like the decisions he’s making.” But then perhaps he would say that. There has, after all, never been much love lost between the two carriers.

Dodging the flak

BA spent Monday this week denying Cruz is considering axing free food on long-haul flights, but there is already an option to pre-order an upgraded economy meal, so perhaps this could be the future. And one way to gauge reaction about bad news is to float an idea before you actually carry it out, something BA did with short-haul BOB.

BA adds: “We have no plans currently for a buy-on-board economy product on long-haul, but if that is what interests customers of the future, we will listen.”

Time will tell how far BA – and the rest of the industry – change our flying experience forever.