BEA Replies at Last Sue,—For some weeks the SPECrATOR has
published, in editorial and correspondence columns, a good deal of criticism of BEA's .service to passengers. Much of it is no doubt merited, and on behalf of BEA I sincerely apologise to those of our customers who have been inconvenienced. They had the right to expect the best from us, and it grieves me and all of us in BEA that they were not satisfied.
However, that is not the whole story. Fair-minded customers and readers will appreciate that running a very large international airline, dedicated to the highest standards of safety, is far from easy. With seven million BEA passengers a year—and the best will in the world—we will continue to have cancella- tions and delays due to the vagaries of weather and human nature. combined with the frailty of the finest mechanical devices.
With safety as the first objective there are bound to be occasions when airliners are not ready in the right place at the right time.
It was fog that bedevilled you (as Nigel Lawson) on your journey, and engine trouble that caused the bulk of delays and cancellations in recent weeks. Hard work in BEA and Rolls-Royce workshops has done much to overcome the engine snags, and BEA is well on the way back to its normal punctuality state—which compares very favourably with the major airlines in the USA.
As to your complaint (as Nigel Lawson), it would have been helpful if you had addressed it to me in the first place. A fellow passenger of yours wrote to the chairman of BEA and received a full apology and explanation of the causes and I will be glad to show it to you at any time. Incidentally, the chair- man, in his reply, thanked your fellow passenger for a number of constructive suggestions.
As a former journalist myself I would be the last person to suggest that the SPECTATOR and its readers should not enjoy free expression of opinion. After all, you and I own BEA, and public criticism of a public carrier is a healthy thing. However, it would help if you and your readers would correspond as freely with me as with the public at large.
WILLIAM SIMPSON Chief Public Relations Officer [Nigel Lawson writes: I would have greater faith in the value of corresponding with Mr Simpson had it not taken him two and a half months to reply to my original complaint].
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