Willie Walsh

In March 2014, Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine named Walsh as its 2014 Laureate for Commercial Aviation.

Walsh oversaw the merger of British Airways and Iberia forming a new holding company International Airlines Group (IAG) in January 2011. He also created a Joint Business Agreement with Iberia and American Airlines, meaning the three airlines now market and sell each other's seats and share revenue on trans-Atlantic routes.

On 24 January 2011, Willie Walsh became chief executive of IAG, which is the parent company of BA and Iberia. Both airlines are members of the Oneworld alliance. It was announced on 9 January 2020 that he would be stepping down as CEO in March 2020, however Walsh announced on 16 March that he intended to delay his retirement in order to help the airline trade through the outbreak of COVID-19.

The major challenges for the airline industry were exacerbated by various natural events such as snow, fog and volcanic ash. He described the closure of European airspace in April 2010 over worries about the ash plume from an erupting Icelandic volcano as a "gross over-reaction to a very minor risk".

The management team suggested to the principal shareholder, the Irish Government, a float of Aer Lingus on the stock market. Stock floats are often rewarding to top management and this was opposed by the unions who feared a privatised Aer Lingus would impose even tougher working conditions. The Government eventually turned down the float and Walsh resigned from the company in January 2005.

Dermot Mannion, formerly of Emirates, succeeded Walsh as Aer Lingus chief executive officer in August 2005.

Before joining British Airways, he briefly worked at the top of Virgin Atlantic but left after a short while due to a falling out with his boss. After he left, a position opened up at British Airways where the board was seeking a successor to chief executive officer Rod Eddington who had announced plans to return to his native Australia at the end of his contract. Walsh was hired in May 2005, with a six-month shadowing period to get to know the business before the departure of Eddington on October 2005.

Willie Walsh became CEO of British Airways in October 2005 and faced a number of major challenges, including a global downturn, increased competition (from low-cost carriers in Europe and premium carriers worldwide), increasing oil prices and taxes. He presided over a period of extensive change for the company. He reduced the number of managers, increased productivity of engineers, baggage handlers and flight crew, and saw through a dispute with the airline's cabin crew.

The company operating profits rebounded, but the cost of the write-offs and redundancies meant that net profitability was not as quick to recover. Not all of Walsh's reforms were successful, such as the outsourcing of aircraft cleaning. The contracting had not been agreed with Aer Lingus unions which led to large payments to the private contractor while Aer Lingus employees did the cleaning work. A three-day lock-out occurred in 2002 during the peak of the cutbacks.

In October 2001, Walsh was elevated from COO to CEO of Aer Lingus, succeeding Michael Foley who had resigned following a harassment complaint. The carrier was in financial difficulty. Walsh eliminated 2,000 staff positions and reconfigured Aer Lingus as a low-cost airline. He also withdrew various services like short-haul Business Class and restricted the airline's frequent-flyer programme, TAB.

He joined company management in various positions including chief executive of then company subsidiary, Futura from 1998 to 2000. He returned to Aer Lingus at that time as Chief Operating Officer (COO).

Walsh was born in Dublin, Ireland. He attended his local secondary school Ardscoil Rís. At age 17 he became a pilot at Irish flag carrier Aer Lingus, joining as a cadet in 1979. He acquired a Master's degree in management and business administration from Trinity College, Dublin during his pilot years, while advancing to become a Boeing 737 captain.

William Matthew Walsh (born 25 October 1961) is an Irish airline executive. He is CEO of International Airlines Group, and has been CEO of Aer Lingus and British Airways.