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Ex-BA chairman Lord King dies
Former British Airways chairman Lord King, who rescued the airline from financial disaster in the 1980s, has died aged 87.
Lord King was appointed in 1981 to turn around the fortunes of the then ailing flag carrier and axed 22,000 jobs and half the board, replaced the fleet and dropped unprofitable routes.
He brought in Sir Colin Marshall in 1983 as chief executive and privatised the airline in 1987 – with its share offering 11 times oversubscribed.
Another former chairman, Martin Broughton, was quoted in the Guardian as saying Lord King “transformed the airline from a position of state-owned weakness to one of financial strength.”
But it wasn’t all plain sailing. He was embroiled in the dirty tricks campaign waged against Virgin Atlantic which resulted in Richard Branson successfully suing BA in 1992.
A counter-sue bid by Lord King proved an expensive mistake with the court finding in Branson’s favour and ordering Lord King to make a public apology and compensate Branson to the tune of £500,000. BA’s legal fees were £3 million.
Lord King died yesterday at his 2,000-acre Leicestershire estate.
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