Paul Coby, CIO of British Airways, is the BA Director responsible for IT-enabled business change. He is a member of CEO, Willie Walsh’s, Leadership Team.
Paul’s business belief is ‘there are no IT projects, only business projects’.
Paul joined the Civil Service in 1978 and held several senior civil service positions, including Principal Private Secretary of State for Transport. Paul was asked to join British Airways in 1997, where he devised and constructed the move of BA’s “engine-room” systems, Reservations, Inventory and Departure Control to Amadeus, as “Community” functions. In September 2001 he joined BA’s Leadership team, as CIO responsible for the operation and development of all BA Group systems.
Over the last four years he has reduced the cost of running BA’s IT operation by over 40 percent, enabling the airline’s investment in industry revolutionising customer and employee enabled systems to increase by over 50 percent. These include 'calendar based selling', 'manage and change my booking' and the new 'shopping basket' that packages BA flights with holidays and car hire on ba.com. Paul leads the Airline’s Process Ownership Board, which supports business change across the Airline. Paul has established the IT and Business Change team within the IT Department to bridge the gap between technology and business transformation.
Outside work Paul’s primary interest is his family, but he also tries to make time for a little skiing, the development of a comprehensive database of Roman forts and military units in the first Century AD, and his interest in pre-1914 railways in Britain and Germany.
Since his time teaching in Kenya before University, Paul has been interested in African and World music generally, and is a devotee of the annual WOMAD Festivals in the UK.
In 2003, Paul was elected Chairman of the SITA Group, and the SITA SC Supervisory Board. SITA is owned by the Air Transport Community and provides network services and IT solutions. It has an annual turnover of cUS$1.5 billion. Paul is also on the Board of OnAir, the SITA/Airbus joint venture which will provide on-board connectivity for new Airbus aircraft, including the A380.