| I remember closing a deal in Lord King’s conference room in Speedbird House circa 1989. I did not get to meet him but he was personally very anxious about the outcome, which was why we were there. I was working for BAe, Inc. and put together a crazy deal under which we had Presidential Airways operate several of their BAe 146-200s in BA’s Highlands and Islands service. On the one hand, BAe was late in the delivery of new ATPs to BA that they planned to use in that service, and this our way of paying late delivery fees. On the other hand, Presdential was millions of dollars in debt to us and we gave them relief from some of that debt in exchange for their providing the service. It was one of the craziest deals I ever worked on. Somewhere I’ve got a photo of a Presidential 146 with “British Airways” painted over the Presidential logo. The deal actually worked despite the many logistical issues that had to be overcome.
I managed the entire deal and was in Speedbird House that day because we were racing the clock and I had to get the docs signed and back to the US as quickly as possible. For that reason BA gave me a seat on Concorde, space available. They dropped me at LHR and I checked in - there were plenty of seats available. I couldn’t believe my luck. But then, out of the blue, an earlier BA 747 bound for JFK took a mechanical and the first and business class passengers on that flight were given the opportunity to take Concorde. The gate agent, with whom by then I had bonded somewhat, let me come around and watch his screen as the seats disappeared. I took the next BA flight back, cursing my bad luck the whole way home - but the deal got done on time. Scott I gather Thatcher liked King's previous business acumen but yes, King brought in Marshall as the CEO to get stuff done.
The rewards were that the King became a Lord (technically a demotion) but the Marshall became a Knight, which is definitely a step up.
Simon
-------- Original message -------- Date: 06/10/2025 09:34 (GMT+00:00) Subject: [Mifnet đź›° 74416] Re: Oct 4 in history
He was a friend of Margaret Thatcher, but it still isn’t clear to me how much of that turnaround was due to King. At the time, it seemed much more of it was coming from Colin Marshall. (Sorry, SIR Colin Marshall.).
tom w. Yes, but he started out as plain old John King, which is much less regal. He was only made Lord King (of Wartnaby) after turning the dog's dinner that was BA into a profitable enterprise and occasional purveyor of dirty tricks against innocent Virgins.
Simon (Still a commoner)
-------- Original message -------- Date: 06/10/2025 07:06 (GMT+00:00) Subject: [Mifnet đź›° 74413] Re: Oct 4 in history
Then there was BA Chairman Lord King.
Now there's a name....
And SIR Basil to you all if you don’t mind! SOP for all BOAC CEO’s back in the day
Rohan W. Garnett
Executive Manager Commercial Airports & Leasing
+61 423 023 106
University of Texas Professor Goodenough received the Nobel Prize. I guess he was. Bob Sent from my iPhone Randal Craft Email: randalrobertcraft@ gmail. com Mobile: 646-226-2299 (USA) On Oct 5, 2025, at 2: 33 PM, Tom Ronell via Mifnet <mifnet@ lists. mifnet. com>
University of Texas Professor Goodenough received the Nobel Prize. I guess he was.
Bob

What a name: Basil Smallpiece.
Right up there with the woman on LinkedIn with the surname Goodenough.
TR
DALLAS — Today, in 1958, British Overseas Aircraft Corporation (BOAC) launched the world's first jet-powered transatlantic flight.
Using the de Havilland Comet 4, BOAC beat rival Pan American to the post by just three weeks, operating the first jet service across the North Atlantic to New York. This was despite Pan Am launching a high-profile advertising campaign, announcing their intention to begin their service with the Boeing 707 on October 26.
G-APDB operated the eastbound flight, and G-APDC operated the westbound. The two aircraft passed about 300 miles apart at 47°W and 1335°Z. Sir Gerard d’Erlanger, BOAC’s Chairman, aboard the westbound aircraft, and Basil Smallpiece, Managing Director, in the eastbound aircraft, exchanged messages during the flights.
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