To say that cricket-loving Aussie Rod Eddington has faced a touch of turbulence in his five years at British Airways would be an understatement.
The likeable, approachable chief executive from Down Under has had to contend with some of the worst conditions for aviation ever experienced.
Many would have drowned under the weight of the problems encountered by the 55-year-old who was dubbed Skippy by his staff.
Within months of taking over in May 2000 he had to face up to the loss from service of BA's flagship plane, Concorde, which was withdrawn for 15 months following the crash of the Air France Concorde in Paris in July 2000.
The downturn in the American economy was already hitting the lucrative transatlantic routes even before the Concorde disaster.
But for Mr Eddington. who had run Ansett in Australia and Cathay Pacific in Hong Kong, worse was to follow.
Overseas visitors were hit by the foot-and-mouth outbreak in 2001 and then BA and other world carriers had to face the aftermath of the totally unexpected and devastating September 11 outrages.
The attacks caused casualties far from the US shores. Some airlines went under, others dived into the red.
But Mr Eddington and BA survived, albeit only after introducing an acute cost-cutting programme which has seen thousands of jobs go at the company.
Nor was September 11 the end of Mr Eddington's problems. He has since endured the Sars outbreak, the Iraq War and the sharp rise in the price of aviation fuel.
The extent to which the rich and famous could no longer be relied on to troop dutifully on to BA's transatlantic services was reflected in the decision to stop Concorde services for good in October 2003 after 27 years.
He had also overseen the sale of BA's low-cost carrier Go and improved working relations with bitter rival Sir Richard Branson at Virgin Atlantic.
So Mr Eddington has won a few battles of his own in his five years on a sometimes sticky wicket at BA.
